Procurement: November 20, 2003

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France has ordered $36 million dollars worth of AT4CS anti-tank rockets from Swedish manufacturer Saab Bofors. These missiles will be delivered over three years, starting in 2004, at the rate of over 6,000 missiles a year. France made a similar order in 2000, so they must be happy with the 15 pound weapon (which has a range of 300 meters and can destroy bunkers as well.) The AT4CS can be fired from inside a building (the CS stands for "Confined Spaces") and that capability caused the U.S. Special Operations Command to buy some for their commandoes. The AT4CS is a one shot system that can use night vision equipment (which is not one shot, a four pound rocket.) The weapon is only 40 inches long. 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.