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# Standard Improvised Munitions

The Provisional IRA Improvised Anti-Armour Grenade (IAAG) or ‘drogue bomb’ first appeared in Belfast on 17 July 1987 and its use quickly escalated. The weapon is essentially an improvised version of the now obsolete Soviet RPG-43 and RKG-3 series of HEAT grenades. It is capable of penetrating several inches of armour and is intended to be dropped from an elevated position or thrown underarm towards a target. It follows the shaped or hollow-charge principle which gives a high pay-off for a comparatively low weight of explosive (in this case 500g of SEMTEX-H) and works by focusing the explosive into a highly penetrative jet. It is an extremely effective anti-armour weapon intended for use in urban, close-range attacks, in the main on RUC and Army patrol vehicles which have since required modifications to help counter attacks from the weapon.

The body of the grenade is a large 20oz food tin with a wooden plug fitted into the top with a 10 inch long PVC pipe handle protruding. The tin contains a filling of SEMTEX plastic explosive shaped between the wooden former plug and a cone folded from copper sheet. A 40mm long section of plastic pipe placed at the bottom of the can provides a short stand-off distance. The PVC pipe handle contains the firing mechanism. The initiator is housed in a wooden plug at the front end of the tube and comprises a plain detonator protruding into the SEMTEX charge with a .22 rimfire blank inserted into the plug behind it, its rim resting on a steel washer. The cartridge is fired by a chisel-edged bolt housed in a short length of wooden dowel which functions as a heavy sliding striker. In its safe position the bolt is held back by a detent bar which transverses through the tube and is attached to a fly-off lever. A safety pin and ring inserted through the bar lock the fly-off assembly. When the safety pin is removed the detent is still held by the lever, and when the thrower releases the lever it is ejected by a compression spring allowing the striker bolt to move forward, compress the creep spring and strike the cartridge which sets off the detonator. The ejection of the lever releases a stabilizing drogue made from two polyethylene strips (cut from a rubbish bin liner) or in the later model a small parachute made from cloth and ribbon.

The IAAG is small enough to be concealed under a coat or inside a holdall and is an ideal weapon to be given to 'young bloods'. Excepting the SEMTEX-H and detonators the other components are widely available and can be purchased without arousing suspicion. The body itself is a large food tin and the rest is made using plastic tubing, steel bar, screws and wood. The grenades have always been painted a matt black colour and are sometimes found contained within plastic transit tubes.

*Highly accurate EOD reference model.

- Includes 17 page PDF document.

- .step, STL