"What I worry about is that they'll abandon organic heavy fire support systems entirely, leaving the GIs outgunned by potential foes that *have* such weaponry." - you are preaching to the choir. I also agree that weapons are decommissioned with out reason. We are now suddenly re-discovering the value of highly portable weapons. And I do want to emphasize that the TOW is a very good weapon but should not have been used to discontinued something as useful as the recoilless rifle.

The comment system cut-off my first paragraph for some reason. What I said was that the application of "counter-mass" technology to Recoilless Rifles has virtually eliminated their blast, flash, smoke, and even recoil. That first video demonstrates the AT4 CS, which is one such weapon to use a counter-mass.

The Spike is one of the best ATGMs in it's class, but it's a poor choice for general-purpose fire support. First, there's the issue of cost-effectiveness. A single Spike round costs $5000 or more, while an 84mm shell sells for $100 to $600, depending on the model. The Spike is also about as cheap as an ATGM will ever be. Second, consider the weight of the Spike missiles. The Spike-SR, Spike-MR, Spike-LR, and Spike-ER weigh 9kg, 14kg, 14kg, and 34kg, respectively. 84mm shells weigh between 2.7kg and 9.5kg, with most weighing about 5.5kg. That means a weapon team can carry a lot more ammunition at a fixed load of gear. Third, all Spike family missiles in service have shaped charge warheads, which makes them relatively weak against structures, and almost useless against personnel in the open. Compare that to all the types of ammunition the Carl Gustav can fire; http://www.saabgroup.com/Global/Documents%20and%20Images/Land/Weapon%20Systems/Carl-Gustav/Carl-Gustaf_brochure.pdf That's no small matter, because compared to enemy troops, structures, and thin-skin vehicles, everything else you fight in a conventional war is rarer than bigfoot --- and in a guerrilla war, you never fight anything else. HE, HEDP, HESH/HEP, APERS, and WP rounds are better for use against these targets. Finally, in many combat situations, guiding the projectile is a fifth wheel. It takes much longer to engage a target with a guided round, and you generally have to fixate on it as well. With unguided projectiles, you literally just "point and click"; line-up the sights on the target, lead it (if it's moving), and pull the trigger. In a Mogadishu-style firefight, you have to do a lot of snap-shooting.

It's confusing.