Quote:
Originally Posted by Ursus Maior
It's sturdy and the M3 comes in at 10 kg, so it's reasonably handy for its fire power. Also, ammunition is compact and can be distributed among the members of a team, squad or group.
I favor the Panzerfaust 3, but I think I'd really appreciate to have a Carl Gustaf in 2000. Ammunition is easier to produce. Blueprints for about a dozen warheads are available, covering every aspect of direct fire support. It even comes with a flechette round.
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The Carl Gustaf is a great piece of kit. PZF 3 and its over caliber warhead is a better armor penetrator, but nothing touches The Goose for variety of munitions; versatility, and volume of fire. A good crew can keep up sustained fire against a position to support maneuver, shoot smoke, or provide accurate fire against point targets on the objective using bunker defeat, enhanced explosive, or plain old HEDP. Defensively, it can shoot an effective APERS round (was just flèchette but there’s also an airburst multi-projectile and and I’ve heard canister is in rdt&e), provide illum, and use a soft launch or HEAT-RAP (AT-4 type) round against most armor short of an MBT. It is heavier than other systems, but nothing is free!
One thing that may happen, regardless of system, is the replacement of manportable ATGMs in infantry units with RR type weapons, or the adoption of an arms room concept where a weapons squad or platoon maintains ATGMs and RRs for use as appropriate. This has already happened in OTL, with weapons platoons in some units maintaining the Javelin and the M3 for use as mission dictates. In other units, the Javelin has been temporarily replaced with the M3 due to cost of Javelin rounds, volume of fire advantages, and lack requirement for heavy armor defeat. Where available, disposable AT weapons still have a place supplementing RR or ATGM fire.
Some armies, for example the British Army, did maintain the Carl Gustaf as a squad weapon. Not sure how this worked, but at the platoon level it’s very effective as a support weapon along with tripod mounted MGs.