USSOCOM M3 MAAWS - Gas Grenade Launcher.
The Modern " Bazooka " Of U.S. Special Forces.
Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System - The USSOCOM M3 MAAWS Gas Grenade Launcher as imagined by VFC: With its real counterpart’s background being from the Swedish Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle (widely used by the US Special Forces). The actual version of this 84mm man-portable and reusable multi-purpose recoilless rifle is produced by Saab Bofors Dynamics.
The Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle earliest prototype was built in 1946, and it has been used in many countries for more than 70 years through a series of derivative models. This is due to the light weight and low cost of its body and shells. It can also be combined with a variety of shell types, allowing Carl Gustaf the versatility to be used in modern changing battlefields.
The U.S. military named the Gustav recoilless rifle as the "Ranger Anti-tank Weapons System" (RAWS), and the M3 Gustav recoilless rifle prototype displayed for the 1st time in 1991. Shortly after, Bofors introduced the Carl Gustaf M3 version. The improvement on its predecessor was to reduce the weight of the launcher body: The inner lining of the launch barrel, including the rifling, was made of thinner steel. The reinforcing material of the external structure is made of lightweight carbon fiber and epoxy resin, and all parts that do not need strength are made of aluminum alloy or plastic, all of which greatly reduces the weight of the original transmitter by about 6 kg.
In service around the world, the Carl Gustav recoilless rifle have also been continuously developed for new uses, including the US special forces and the British SAS as a tool to deal with bunkers and other combat vehicles , and the German army still retained a certain number of Gustav M2 even after equipping the new Tekken III bazooka as an anti-armor weapon.
In November 2011, the U.S. Army ordered the M3 series for regular troops on the battlefield in Afghanistan to fight against RPG rocket launchers equipped by the enemy and terrorists. The effective range of the RPG rocket launcher is 500-600 meters. Compared with the M3 Carl Gustaf, with the combination of different ammunition types, the effective range can be increased to about 1300 meters. And as an added feature set thru the sue or the proper munitions, it also has the ability of “air bombing” enemies hiding in bunkers from directly above.
On March 28, 2013, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) asked the manufacturer to reduce weight, but given strict instructions that the reduction in weight and size should not affect the weapon's center gravity and durability. Saab Bofors Dynamics had also already developed a weight-reduced version prior to delivery to USSOCOM. It had been shown in firing tests that it has no performance degradation, no recoil increase, and barrel life is essentially the same as the unreduced version.
The main structure of a Carl Gustaf's body is composed of the barrel with breech recoil buffer, plus two grips and the interface of the stock assembly and the tripod. It is equipped with both mechanical sights and optical sight mounts.
The Carl Gustav recoilless rifle can be fired in standing, kneeling, sitting or prone positions. Alternatively it also can be fixed to the ground and fired by attaching a two-legged bracket to the front of the stock assembly. There is also an operating handle called a "Venturi lock", which is used to open the breech for reloading, usually a small team of two people assist in operating the weapon, one of whom carries the weapon and shoots it, the other person carries the weapon's ammunition and assists with reloading.
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