$14.1M Order for 3,000 Thermobaric SMAW Rounds

USMC LCpl & SMAW, Iraq…(click to view full) Talley Defense Systems, Inc. in Mesa, AZ received a $14.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for the manufacture and delivery of 3,000 Mk.80 shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon – novel explosive (SMAW-NE) encased assault rockets. These are the cylinder-shaped all up rounds that clip into the Mk. 153 SMAW shoulder-launch unit. Work will be performed in Columbus, MS (75%) and Mesa, AZ (25%), and is expected to be complete by January 2008. This contract was a sole source from The Marine Corps Systems Command Program Manager for Ammunition at Quantico, VA. GlobalSecurity.org describes SMAW-NEs as thermobaric weapons, which were very successful at defeating Islamist death squads and reducing Marine casualties during the high-intensity Second battle of Fallujah in November 2004. A July 2005 Marine Corps Gazette article added that: “… Due to the lack of penetrating power of the NE round, we found that our assaultmen had to first fire a dual-purpose [HEDP] rocket in order to create a hole in the wall or building. This blast was immediately followed by an NE round that would incinerate the target or literally level the structure.” One reader wrote to us to note that this one-two punch […]