#Bazooka

The United States Marine Corps is following in the US Army in the procurement of the Saab M3A1 MAAWS (Multi-Role Anti-Armor/Anti-Personnel Weapon System) recoilless rifle. The M3A1 is a lightweight multipurpose explosive projector weapon which can engage targets at much longer ranges than weapons currently in service with the USMC. The previous MAAWS version, the heavier M3, has been in US Army service since 2011, and was approved for general issue to Army platoons in early 2016.  Military.com’s Hope Hodge Seck reports:

Good things come in lightweight, 84mm packages: Following its fielding of the M3 MAAWS last year, the US Army has announced its decision to sole-source 1,111 improved lightweight M3E1 MAAWS recoilless rifles from Saab Dynamics, in a listing at FBO.gov. The new weapon is based on the Saab Dynamics M4 variant of the venerable Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle, which improves over the previous M3 by reducing weight by 30% (22 pounds down to 15.4 pounds) and length by 14% (1,100mm down to 950mm). The M3E1 is expected to be type classified as the M3A1 Multi-Role Anti-Armor/Anti-Personnel Weapon System (MAAWS).

The 2.36 inch M1A1 “Bazooka” entered service midway through the Second World War in the U.S. campaign in North Africa. From there it become widely liked that the rocket launcher was issued at the infantry platoon level and used with much success against German and Japanese enemy positions and armor for the remainder of the war, of course barring the Tiger and Panther tanks employed on the Western Front. Although seemingly a well-thought out weapon system, the “Bazooka” is as rudimentary as a Walmart Potato Gun. Made from simple tubing, wooden furniture, wrapped wire, a heat shield, and sights that would make Browning himself blush, the weapon was very intuitive to operate and maintain. Later versions incorporated a tube that could be folded in half, and a 3.5 inch rocket. This saw much usage in the Korean War as a the M20 Launcher.

The war in Syria and Iraq has seen the development of a whole range of scratchbuilt and improvised weapons that are as ingenious as they are destructive. Recently, a kind of serially-produced rocket launcher has come to light as part of Da’ish (ISIS) propaganda, which appears to demonstrate a capability to serially produce clandestine weapons of a fairly high degree of sophistication. The weapon, a multipurpose missile launcher with a high explosive warhead, is unassuming and appears roughly equivalent to the US AT4, though cruder. It is a simple tube with almost no fittings or sights, a carrying/support handle, and a safety pin securing a fold-out firing grip.