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M72 Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW)

The mechanized troops of Ukraine on the front lines were armed with American M72 LAW grenade launchers and Ukrainian RPV-16 grenade launchers. This is reported by the Military 08 March 2022. The M72 LAW is a single-use launcher that is factory-equipped with a rocket-propelled grenade with a cumulative armor-piercing warhead. RPV-16 is a Ukrainian dynamo-reactive grenade launcher with single-use thermobaric ammunition.

Norway will hand over 2,000 grenade launchers to Ukraine. This was announced on March 30, 2022 by the Ministry of Defense, Reuters reports. This is the M72 LAW (light anti-tank weapon). This will be the second batch of these weapons from Norway. The total number of Norwegian grenade launchers that Ukraine will receive will reach 4,000 units.

M72 LAW – 66 mm American-made unguided anti-tank weapon, which is in service with the US Armed Forces since 1963 and in the armies of many other countries. The extended range is 1000 m. The range of effective fire (against stationary tank) is 200 m. The American rocket launcher M72 LAW is designed to deal with armored targets and enemy shelters at short distances, mainly in urban combat. In the mid-1950s, the US Army began research to develop an effective anti-tank weapon suitable for individual use by soldiers on the battlefield (lightweight antitank weapon - LAW, light anti-tank weapon).

The direct development of the LAW system was started in February 1958 by the American company Hesse Eastern Co, in 1959 the first tests were carried out, and in March 1961 this weapon was adopted by the US Army under the symbol M72 LAW. The concept of the new weapon was based on the German idea of the Panzerfaust disposable anti-tank weapon, worked out during the Second World War, but the Americans significantly developed it, replacing the recoilless rocket firing scheme, and also for the first time using a sliding transport and launch container that reliably protected the grenade during storage and transportation in battle.

At present, in the United States, the M72 LAW series grenade launchers have mostly been replaced in service with the much more effective M136 disposable grenade launchers (US-produced Swedish SAAB Bofors AT4 grenade launchers), but the M72 systems are still manufactured in the US by Talley Defense Systems in "Improved LAW" variants.

Modern M72 "Improved LAW" series grenade launchers, which are available in various versions, are distinguished by a more powerful rocket engine that provides a higher initial speed and a longer firing range, as well as more powerful warheads. Since 2005, a modernized M72 LAW model has been produced - the M72E10 grenade launcher. The M72A6 and M72A7 variants are designed to fight lightly armored targets (armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles) and infantry in shelters - they have less armor-piercing, but more powerful armor-piercing damage.