Saab has received an order for Carl-Gustaf ammunition and AT4 systems from the U.S. Army. The order value is approximately $100 million and deliveries will take place in 2021.
The order was placed within an indefinite-delivery and quantity agreement signed in 2019, enabling the customer to place orders for Carl-Gustaf ammunition and AT4 systems during a five-year period to a value of up to $445 million. The AT4 systems and the Carl-Gustaf munitions in this order will be operated by the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, and Special Forces Command.
The M4 also features an interface for “intelligent” sights, allowing soldiers to program air-bursting rounds to explode above a precise point.
“The Saab family of shoulder-fired munitions provides the U.S. Armed Forces with effective capabilities against a wide area of targets. With these systems, soldiers and Marines gain reliable, easy-to-use technology optimized for complex environments and engagements,” says Erik Smith, President and CEO of Saab in the U.S.
The Pentagon started buying the M3E1 since late 2017 once the Army is done with testing and likes what it sees. If so, it could keep the Swedish recoilless rifles blasting away for decades to come.
Saab, the weapon’s Swedish developer, is pitching the M3E1 as a collection of evolutionary improvements optimized for urban warfare. It’s slightly smaller and weighs around 15 pounds, seven pounds lighter than the current M3.
Since 1987, Saab has delivered more than 600,000 AT4s, both directly and under license, to the U.S. Armed Forces. The Carl-Gustaf system has been a program of record in the U.S. since 2013 and in 2018 the U.S. Army announced it would acquire the latest version of the system – the Carl-Gustaf M4 (designated M3E1 in the U.S.) with a reduced weight of less than 15 pounds (7 kilos).
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