This bad boy is shoulder
fired and can destroy enemy vehicles, bunkers and buildings. It's been in special operations forces
units for years now soldiers and marines
will rely on it for better force
protection.
The weapon is normally operated by a
two-man crew, a gunner who carries and
fires the weapon in a loader carrying
two canisters for a total of four rounds
of ammunition. One or two extra ammunition carriers can
be assigned if heavy use is expected.
In the firing procedure it is the
loader's responsibility to check the
area behind the weapon for people and
for obstacles that can interfere with
the back blast.
The drill is needed due to the inherent
dangers of the back blast. Any person
within the cone can suffer severe burn
injuries and solid objects closely
behind can reflect the blast onto the
crew. The weapon is reusable, unlike its
predecessor the at four.
The at four was used once and discard, now the gustav can shoot different types
of ammunition that can be fired
repeatedly depending on the need.
Dubbed the Multi-role Anti-armor, Anti-personnel Weapon system (MAAWS) this thing is handy. It's nicknamed that broomstick and it
has an effective range of 1,300 meters
with a high explosive round.
The 84 millimeters gustav costs 20,000
each, weighing around fifteen pounds at
nearly three feet long. the gustav can
eventually fire rocket boosted laser
guided munitions too. The models that are made of titanium are
even lighter and more portable.
The army announced last year that it
would spend 87 million dollars with
swedish defense firm saab to supply it
for the coming years. The army plans to buy around 2400
gustavs by 2023. The marines said this july that it would
give it to rifle platoons as well.
The Gustav makes sense because it
enables a cost-effective system that has
many options on the battlefield. It can be fired from the standing, sitting or prone position.
The Gustav engages a target quickly and
it has a laser enabled range finder. it can shoot six rounds per minute and
more with another person to load it. If you pair the gust off with a machine
gun you can lay down a high level of
suppressing fire and allow maneuver
units to flank and overwhelm the enemy.
It changes the decision making calculus
on the battlefield and gives soldiers
and marines more attacking and defensive
choices. This will be helpful in cities when the
enemy is taking up positions behind
walls and doors.
Now there are plans for raytheon to hook
up with Saab to create the laser-guided Garl gustav munition. This will be even deadlier due to its
high accuracy, it is already being tested
with excellent results. the laser guided
system will likely be fielded first with
special ops units. then it will trickle down to infantry
platoons if it is successful.
the broomstick packs a wallop and gives
commanders more options in combat. The
laser guided munitions would be a
welcome addition to an already lethal
weapons system.
It is not clear how the high explosive
warhead from the gustav would perform
against enemy tanks and armored
personnel carriers. But the Broomstick has many looking past
the days when they just had one shot to
kill enemy vehicles with at 4s. The gustav appears to have a promising
future.
