USMC Lays Down the LAW on Anti-Armor Weapons
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The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico is ordering up to $136.5 million worth of M72A7 Light Weight Anti-Armor Weapon (LAW) systems and trainers from Nammo Talley Defense in Mesa, AZ to replenish stockpiles. The M72A7 LAW is a man-portable, shoulder-launched rocket designed to destroy armored vehicles and covered enemy fighting positions.
The M72A7 LAW meets the needs identified by the Marine Corps in 2004 for a shoulder-launched rocket. The Marine Corps required a weapon system with the capability to defeat targets such as covered enemy fighting positions (bunkers, urban structures) or light armored vehicles that are impervious to small arms fire or out of the range of fragmentation hand grenades and other close-in weapon systems.
DID has more on the Nammo Talley contract and the tactical advantages of the M72A7…
Nammo Talley’s indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract has CLINs (contract line item numbers) for the purchase of M72AS LAW trainer rockets, M72AS LAW inert training rocket, M72AS trainer launchers, M72AS trainer launcher boxes, M72AS trainer launcher cleaning kits, and a CLIN to convert M72A7 LAW launchers to M72AS trainer launchers. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $136.5 million.
Nammo Talley will perform the work in Mesa, AZ (58.8%); Camden, MS (13%); and Davidsville, PA (28.2%) and expects to complete it by June 2010 (July 2014 if option years are exercised). Contract funds in the amount of $11.6 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Since Nammo Talley is the only LAW manufacturer, this contract was a sole source contract announced via Navy Electronic Commerce Online. The Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA manages the contract (M67854-09-D-1062).
This is the second LAW contract for Nammo Talley Defense in less than a year. In November last year, the company received a $15.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for 7,750 LAW M72A7 portable rockets from the Marine Corps.
The DID article “Israel: LAW on Order” explains the tactical tradeoffs involved in carrying LAW rockets vs. other portable anti-armor weapons. The M72A7 is well adapted to firing on enemy buildings and strongpoints, and has become the standard LAW order in the modern age. LAW rockets are also offered in M72A4 enhanced penetration and M72A5 penetration warheads, but the M72A7 has an insensitive warhead for greater safety, and an enhanced blast effect that makes it especially useful once it penetrates a building. This redesigned version of the LAW rocket has restarted production and returned to American military service.
