Posts Tagged ‘Carl-Gustaf’

A Look At The Carl-Gustaf

Saturday, April 15th, 2023

In last week’s look at the RPG-7, commenter Kirk noted that he thought the Carl-Gustaf recoilless rifle (essentially a much-upgraded bazooka) was a superior weapon. So let’s take a look at that.

  • Manufactured by Saab.
  • The big advantage that Carl-Gustav offers is that it’s much cheaper per round than smart munitions like Javelin.
  • “In the case of Ukraine [they’re] using these things for against everything from guys behind cover to light armored vehicles, soft skin vehicles and, of course, main battle tanks.”
  • Used by more than 40 countries.
  • Carl-Gustav can’t fill the top attack role NLAW and Javelin use against tanks. “But it can cripple a main battle tank and. And with some of these advanced warheads, it can affect a not just a mobility kill, but an outright Kill, at least from the rear.”
  • “And if you blow off a track, the thing isn’t moving and it can then be killed perhaps another way, or the crew will simply abandon it.”
  • There are 15 different types of shells, including smoke and illumination.
  • They’re also working on guided munitions.
  • They’re also working on a confined-space munition with reduced back-blast, which sounds really useful for urban warfare.
  • Other tidbits:

  • Models produced are M1 (starting 1946) through M4 (2014).
  • A wide variety of rounds, including antipersonnel and two-phase charge designed to defeat reactive armor.
  • Most of NATO uses it, including the U.S., UK, Germany, Poland and all three of the Baltic states.
  • Ukraine managed to take out a T-90 with it.
  • Whether it’s better than an RPG-7 probably comes down to training and use case. The RPG-7 looks to be a lot more portable, but I’m betting the average Carl-Gustav build quality is better.