Saab turns its portable rocket launchers into guided weapons with a new guided multipurpose munition

Saab turns its portable rocket launchers into guided weapons with a new guided multipurpose munition

Sweden’s Saab has reported the first tests of its Guided Multi-Purpose Munition (GMV), the commercial name for the program we analyzed in aimed at developing a laser-guided projectile for its Carl Gustaf and AT4 types of portable missile launchers.
Now Saab has released several tests that were conducted last November at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, where several GMM launches were carried out using using both Carl Gustav recoilless guns and a modified AT4 disposable rocket launcher.
The guidance system is based on semi-active laser (SAL) technology using a target designator to capture the target. Various types of targets such as triple brick walls, double reinforced concrete walls or armored personnel carriers have been fired at ranges from 1,550 to 2,500 meters, and it has also been found to be usable from confined spaces.
This program began in 2017 and was developed by Raytheon Missile & Defense of America with funding from the U.S. Army through the Rapid Innovation ( Rapid Innovation Runding or RIF) government fund to meet operational needs. Saab and Raytheon developed the GMM thinking about improving lethality for the foot soldier by developing the concept of portable, shoulder-launched munitions with the ability to integrate into armored personnel carrier turrets as well as from ground and airborne unmanned vehicles.
The GMM specifications advertised by Saab are more ambitious, as it talks of a range of more than 2.5 km, a dual-action tandem warhead, laser or infrared guidance and the ability to use it from mortars as well. It could be launched in open fields, confined spaces or from vehicles, against infantry, protected structures, armored vehicles or even helicopters.
This system reminds us of the guided ALCOTAN, which is being developed by the Spanish companies Instalaza and Escribano Mechanical & Engineering , which in model format we could see in the last edition of FEINDEF and which was selected in 2019 by the Ministry of Defense as one of the 22 programs receiving funding from the Directorate General of Armaments and Materials (DGAM).
“Guided ammunition unlocked from the shoulder ( shoulder started guided ammunition )” from Instalaza, SA includes the evolution of the ALCOTAN system , but relying on the laser guidance system developed by Escribano Mechanical & Engineering. In order to cover new market segments and needs, among which are those of the Army Brigade 2035, he proposes to adopt a guidance system, the result of a collaboration with the Spanish company Escribano Mechanical & Engineering, can be used ALCOTAN-100 (M2).
It is a new product designed to fill the gap between the C90 and the ALCOTAN-100 (M2) and the most sophisticated and expensive guided missiles such as the Spike or TOW. It is based on the adoption of the Escribano laser guidance kit based on its SALK ( Semi-Active Laser Kit ) technology in the ALCOTAN-100 (M2), increasing accuracy and range from 1 to 2 km. (Jose Mo Navarro Garcia)

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