Wasteland Manual Description[]
The LAW rocket is a small, armor-piercing explosive rocket contained in a disposable firing tube. It was first developed to destroy tanks. The mass of the tip (made from depleted uranium) enables the rocket to blast through the armor so the explosive shell can burst, once inside. Some knowledge or skill in anti-tank weaponry is useful when employing rockets.
History (from Wikipedia)[]
The M72 LAW (Light Anti-Tank Weapon, also referred to as the Light Anti-Armor Weapon or LAW as well as LAWS Light Anti-Armor Weapons System) is a portable one-shot 66 mm unguided anti-tank weapon, designed in the United States by Paul V. Choate, Charles B. Weeks, and Frank A. Spinale et al. while with the Hesse-Eastern Division of Norris Thermadore, currently produced by Nammo Raufoss AS in Norway.
In early 1963 the LAW was adopted by the United States Army and the United States Marines as their primary individual infantry anti-tank weapon, replacing the M31 HEAT rifle grenade and the M20A1 "Super Bazooka" in the US Army.
It had been intended that in the early 1980s that the M72 would be replaced by the FGR-17 Viper, but this program was canceled by Congress and the M136 AT4 was introduced in its place. In that time period its nearest comparison was the Swedish Pskott m/68 (Miniman) and the French SARPAC.
Specifications[]
The M72A2 LAW was issued as a prepackaged round of ammunition. Improvements to the launcher and differences in the ammunition were differentiated by a single designation. The most common M72A2 LAWs came prepacked with a rocket containing a 66 mm HEAT warhead which is attached to the inside of the launcher by the igniter. The standard M72A2 antiarmor HEAT warhead has an official stated penetrate in 1977 of up to 20cm/8 inches of steel plate, 600mm (2 feet) of reinforced concrete, or 1.8 meters (6 feet) of soil.