Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Charlie Hebdo gunmen robbed petrol station with ROCKET LAUNCHER

Looks like the rocket launcher is either a Vietnam era U.S. M72 LAW (Light Anti-Tank Weapon) or a Communist-bloc made RPG-18 or RPG-22. The RPG-18 and RPG-22 are Soviet designed copies of the U.S. LAW.  All three are a fiber glass tube that contains an anti-tank rocket of 64 to 72.5mm diameter equipped with a shaped-charge explosive warhead that is designed to blow forward and pierce steel armor. The fiber-glass tube serves as both the packing container for the rocket as well as the launcher. After firing, the tube can be discarded like an empty beer can. The advantage over older “bazooka” type rocket launchers being that more soldiers can carry more ammunition and more separate launchers. The LAW was used very successfully in Vietnam for knocking out enemy bunkers. Clearly the Soviets saw that the design was a winner, since their RPG-18 and RPG-22 are nearly identical copies of the LAW. The LAW was replaced in U.S. Service by the AT-4, which has increased range, accuracy and destructive performance against armored vehicles. However, reports are that old stocks of the LAW were issued to U.S. Troops in Afghanistan and Iraq because the LAW was lighter and handier to carry and worked just fine for blowing holes in brick walls and bunkers.

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