ILAW – The UK’s AT4

You’re probably familiar with the British Army’s NLAW but you may not have heard the term ‘ILAW’. The ILAW, or Interim Light Anti-armour Weapon, is the British Army’s designation for the Saab 84mm AT4 single-shot recoilless anti-tank weapon.

In the late 1990s the British Army began to seek a replacement for the Light Anti-armour Weapon 80, officially referred to as the L1A1 94mm HEAT Rocket System; this requirement would eventually evolve into the Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon or NLAW. NLAW was selected in 2002 and was intended to enter service in 2006, but this slipped to 2009. As a result, in 2004, with UK operations in Iraq and Afghanistan ongoing, an interim solution was sought and the AT4 was selected.

In July 2004, then-Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram told the UK’s Parliament that:

“The Interim Light Anti-Armour Weapon (ILAW) is being procured to provide a light, short-range anti-armour capability in advance of the introduction of the Next Generation Light Anti-Armour Weapon (NLAW). Following a competitive down select, the Saab Bofors Dynamics AT4 anti-armour system has been chosen to meet the ILAW requirement. In parallel, the NLAW programme remains on track to meet the long-term requirement.”

UK Parliamentary records show that 1,400 AT4s were procured from Saab. The variant ordered was the AT4 CS HP – the Confined Space High Penetration variant of the system. This means it can be fired from confined spaces, but its warhead can penetrate up to 420mm of rolled homogeneous armour. The AT4 CS HP weighs 8kg and has an overall length of 1,040mm. It’s muzzle velocity is 220 m/s and its effective out to 300m.In addition to the actual AT4s procured, records also show that 350,000 9mm AT4 practice rounds were procured between 2004 and 2005 for use in AT4 trainer units.

Operationally, ILAW supplemented the L72A9 Light Anti-Structure Munition and the later L2A1 Anti-Structure Munition, both of which were used in Afghanistan. This photograph (below), taken by a Royal Navy photographer Sean Clee, represents the best look at an ILAW in action in theatre that I’ve been able to find. A member of M Company, 42 Commando Royal Marines fires an ILAW at Taliban insurgents in the town of Barikju, Northern Helmand in 2007.

*Royal Marine Commando firing a ILAW, c.2007 (Sean Clee / Royal Navy)*

Digging a little deeper thought the UK MoD’s Defence Imagery archive I came across a series of rarely seen photographs featuring ILAWs. The earliest photograph I found dates to early August 2006, a WIMIC Land Rover is seen with a pair of AT4s strapped to the bonnet during a route clearing operation near Musa Qala in Helmand Province. A photo of members of 3 Parachute Regiment operating in the same area during Operation Atomi was taken on 24 August, with an AT4 laying on the ground in the background as troops rest.

The next image I came across dates to the end of January 2007, members of M Company 42 Commando operating in Barikju, with a light machine gunner also carrying an AT4. This photo, the one seen earlier and several more we’ll examine all originate from the Operation Volcano which aimed to clear the Taliban out of compounds in and around Barikju. The next three images were taken by Sean Clee on 2 February, showing members of M Company, 42 Commando. In each of the photographs AT4s can be seen in the background. In the final image an empty launch tube of an ILAW can be seen next to a GPMG.

*Members of No.3 Company, 1 Grenadier Guards with ILAW, July 2007 (Sergeant Will Craig / British Army)*

In June 2007 British troops undertook Operation Bataka near Garmsir, this photograph was taken during the operation and features a soldier with an ILAW slung. A month later in July 2007, members of No.3 Company, 1 Grenadier Guards were photographed waiting to board a Chinook during Operation Chakush. The soldier in the foreground waits with an ILAW grounded. The final photograph I found, dates from 2nd August, 2007, also taken during Operation Chakush, features a member of B Company 1 Royal Welsh, armed with an L86 LSW, providing security during a building clearance has an ILAW slung. All of these photos show that the ILAW was in theatre by the summer of 2006 and saw operations through the following year.

Sources are conflicted on the L-designation for the ILAW, some sources suggest L1A2 and L2A1 while in 2005 the British Army’s website listed it as the L142. The ILAW remained in British inventory into the 2010s and saw active service in Afghanistan (no firm information is available on if it was deployed during the Iraq War), but was slowly replaced by the more capable and complex NLAW. As of 2025, per a Freedom of Information query, the ILAW is no longer held in UK inventory.

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UK’s M72 A9 ‘Light Anti-Structure Munition’

The British Army has fielded the 66mm M72 in a number of forms, initially procuring it in the 60s and 70s – designating it the L1(A1/A2/A3) anti-tank weapon. In 2007, during operations in Afghanistan, the UK Ministry of Defence identified a new urgent operational requirement for an stand-off anti-structure weapon that was cheaper than utilising the LAW80 or more expensive Javelin anti-tank guided missile. The munition selected was a new variant of the NAMMO and Talley-manufactured M72 which had an aluminised high explosive 1kg warhead and an overall weight of 4.3kg. The explosive used was likely PBXIH-135 which mixed HMX with aluminium to enhance the warhead’s blast and thermal output.

*Expended M72 A9 LASM tube (Matthew Moss)*

M72A9 is the US Department of Defense’s designation for the Nammo ASM ‘enhanced blast’ warhead round. This round generates an extended-duration blast pulse designed to collapse buildings. Nammo lists this round as the M72 A9 ASM. In British service it was designated the LASM – ‘light anti-structure munition’.

*Members of 2 PARA in Helmand, c.2008, with a Light Anti-Structure Munition (Craig Allen)*

The example we’re examining here is part of the Vickers MG Collection & Research Association’s wider collection. It is an expended tube for one of the rockets. On the tube body we can see lengths of Picatinny rail and various markings including an information sticker stating the serial number, its date of filling – 11/07, its manufacturer – Talley Defense Systems and its designation – ‘M72 A9 LASM’. Someone has also written ‘GET SOM’ in marker on the body at some point. The tube isn’t in the best condition having lost both its front and rear sights.

*Cpl Steven Bircumshaw, 5 Platoon, 2 Mercian Regiment fires an M72A9 LASM during operation Panchai Palang in Babaji, 2009 (Sgt Dan Harmer/Crown Copyright)*

Over 1,000 LASM are believed to have been procured as part of the urgent operational requirement, they were used operationally from 2007 onwards and with an effective range of 200m it filled a key niche between the British Army’s 40mm under-barrel grenade launchers carried at the section-level and its larger shoulder-launched systems including the LAW80 and Javelin. There are plenty of photos and videos of LASM being used by British troops and while its effectiveness is unclear it provided a lightweight, mid-range anti-structure munition capable of destroying small buildings and punching holes in compound walls. The M72 A9 has since been superseded in Nammo’s product line-up by the A12 and the LASM is not currently in service with the British Army. In 2010 the British Army adopted the Rafael MATADOR-AS for the anti-structure role but are now out of UK service with any remaining stocks probably transferred to Ukraine.

Bibliography:

‘2 Mercian Contact, firing grenades and a 66mm rocket launcher’, Paul Standen, (2020) [source]

‘Afghanistan, British Soldier Fires 66mm Rocket Followed By Rifle Fire’, JW, (2011) [source]

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Fighting On Film: The Outpost (2020)

This week we take a look at ‘The Outpost‘, a film that brings the story of Camp Keating and the desperate Battle of Kamdesh to the screen. With the decades long war in Afghanistan seemingly drawing to an end we thought now was as good a time as any to begin examining how the war has been portrayed on screen. Directed by Rod Lurie and staring Scott Eastwood, Orlando Bloom, Caleb Landry Jones ‘The Outpost‘ is a very well-made war film – perhaps even a modern classic of the genre.