The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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AT4 Returns To Iraq
by James Dunnigan
June 24, 2015
The United States recently delivered 2,000 AT4CS (the CS stands for "Confined Spaces") one-shot shoulder fired rocket launchers to the Iraqi military. Half of this shipment was held back for training purposes, since it does require some practice to become proficient with the AT4.
Made by a Swedish firm (Saab Bofors) the U.S. Marines have been using AT4 since the 1990s and Iraqis who saw it in action were impressed. The 6.8 kg (15 pound) weapon has a range of 300 meters and can destroy bunkers as well as armored vehicles. Many have been used in Iraq and Afghanistan by American and other NATO forces.
The AT4CS can be fired from inside a building and that capability attracted U.S. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) and the U.S. Marine Corps to buy many of these missiles. The AT4CS is a one shot system that can operate with reusable night vision equipment. The 1.8 kg (four pound) rocket is fired from a one meter (40 inches) long launcher. The maximum range of the rocket is about two kilometers. The warhead doesn't arm until the rocket is about ten meters from the launcher. It takes about one second for the rocket to go 250 meters. The warhead can penetrate about 500mm (nearly 20 inches) of steel armor. Thus the AT4 is very useful against the thick walled compounds commonly found all over Iraq.
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