The SMAW-D operates on the principle that the recoil created by launching the rocket is counteracted by a "backblast" of gases fired from the rear of the weapon. This makes the SMAW-D inherently dangerous, especially in confined, urban areas, as is the case with all weapons of this design.
The M141 has two configurations: a carry mode in which the launcher is 812mm (32.0in) long, and a ready to fire mode in which the launcher is extended to its full length of 1372mm (54.0in).[3]
The warhead is the same high-explosive, dual-mode (HEDM) as the USMC SMAW. It is effective against masonry, concrete walls, bunkers and lightly armored vehicles. The projectile can penetrate 20cm (7.9 inches) of double-reinforced concrete walls, 30cm (12 inches) of brick, up to 20mm (0.79 inches) of rolled homogenous armor, or up to 210cm (6.9 feet) of wood-reinforced sandbags.[4]
HEDM Rocket Components
The warhead is activated by a fuze in the rear of the warhead that distinguishes between hard and soft targets. On soft targets, such as sandbags, detonation is delayed until the projectile is buried in the target, producing a devastating effect. On hard targets, detonation occurs immediately on contact.[4]
Service history
The conferees of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 agreed that the US Army's BDM and the Marine Corps' short-range assault weapon (SRAW) were too similar to justify separate long-term projects, and that the Army should pursue an interim BDM program. Congress limited BDM procurement to 6,000 units.
U.S. Army infantryman carrying an M141 BDM in Afghanistan, 2011
Two candidates were evaluated for the Army's BDM program. A candidate from McDonnell-Douglas (later Talley Defense Systems) used the same warhead as the Marine Corps SMAW, but with a rocket motor with a shorter burn time. A candidate developed by Sweden's FFV for Alliant Techsystems (later Honeywell) replaced the standard high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead of the M136 AT4 with the same dual mode warhead used by the USMC SMAW.[5]
FFV designated the bunker buster version of the AT4 as the FFV AT8. In 1996 the McDonnell-Douglas candidate was chosen. In a unique move, the US Army ordered one batch of 1,500 then a second batch of 4,500 which were placed in contingency storage for expedited issue to units in combat.[5] The SMAW-D was delivered to the Army in 1999.[6]
CNN news footage showed US Army Rangers firing M141s at various fortified caves during the Tora Bora operations against the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, being mistaken by the CNN reporters for M136 AT4 projectiles.[7]
Quantities of M141s were sent to the Ukrainian armed forces by the US before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022.[8] Since then, the missile has also been employed successfully against Russian vehicles.[9]
↑ After being fired, the projectile can be seen arching towards it target, by the exhaust nozzle in the rear which is still glowing from the heat of the burn-all-the-way in the launcher. Iyt looks like the M141 projectile has a ruby tracer in the rear of the projectile.
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