Nobel Gets Prize GBP 40M Contract for Bunker-Busting Bazookas
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Only the British could look at a bunker-buster bazooka and call it an “Anti-Structures Munition.” Anyway, following a rigorous competition which included full test firings of the weapon and soldier trials, a GBP 40 million ($69.7 million at current exchange) contract to deliver these weapons has just been awarded to Dynamit Nobel Defence. Yes, that Nobel, who makes the Panzerfaust family of weapons. This contract includes combat weapons, training systems, and contractor logistic support for the first five years.
No pictures or details were provided by either the company or the UK MoD, except to describe them as “a new shoulder-launched weapon which will allow the British infantry to defeat hardened structures such as buildings or bunkers more precisely and safely, and without recourse to artillery or air support.” No word on whether the weapons will be thermobaric, either, but Minister for Defence Procurement Lord Drayson did say that:
“The Anti-Structures Munition will provide our Armed Forces with a new capability. It will enable our infantry to more precisely defeat hardened structures such as buildings or bunkers – improving the safety of UK forces, reducing the danger to civilians in the area and the damage caused to neighbouring buildings.
…The Anti-Structures Munition does not replace a weapon system currently in service, but adds a potent new capability to the Infantry’s arsenal, which has already been enhanced through programmes to provide night sights, under-slung grenade launchers and the state of the art [DID: cough, cough] SA80A2 assault rifle.”
The system is planned to be in service by the end of 2009. See release.
