A Ukrainian soldier has been photographed with a Swedish AT4 anti-tank missile system
for the first time.
It confirms that the lethal Swedish weapon has arrived on the Ukrainian battlefield.
The photo has gone viral on Social Media platforms.
The AT4 is intended to give infantry units a means to destroy or disable armored vehicles
and fortifications.
As per reports, 5000 will be delivered in total.
It is pertinent to mention here that earlier on February 28, Sweden broke its policy of
not sending arms to countries in active conflict and decided to sent military equipment to
Ukraine
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why the inflow of Swedish AT4 Anti Tank system
into Ukraine is bad news for Russia?
Let's get started.
The AT4 is a Swedish 84 mm (3.31 in) unguided, man-portable, single-shot, disposable, recoilless
smoothbore anti-tank weapon built by Saab Bofors Dynamics (previously Bofors Anti-Armour
Systems).
Saab has had considerable sales success with the AT4, making it one of the most common
light anti-tank weapons in the world.
The name AT4 is a wordplay on the 84 mm caliber of the weapon, 'eighty-four' being pronounced
similarly to 'A-T-4'.
The name also doubles as an alpha-phonetic wordplay on the weapon's role due to "AT"
being a common military abbreviation for "Anti-Tank".
The launcher and projectile are manufactured pre-packed and issued as a single unit of
ammunition, with the launcher discarded after a single-use.
The AT4 is a development of the 74-mm Pansarskott m/68, adopted by the Swedish Army in the late
1960s.
Like the m/68, the AT4 was designed by Förenade Fabriksverken (FFV) and manufactured at their
facility at Zakrisdal, Karlstad, Sweden.
FFV began research in a replacement for the m/68 in 1976, deliberately designing an individual
anti-armor weapon that would not be able to defeat the heavy amour protection of MBTs
(main battle tanks) in frontal engagements, believing that to be counterproductive.
The AT4 was designed as a weapon to engage medium to light armored vehicles from any
direction, MBTs from the sides or rear, and as an assault weapon against buildings and
fortifications.
FFV also had the design goal of a weapon that was simple to use, rugged, and far more accurate
than previous individual antiarmor weapons against moving targets.
Another key requirement was that the AT4 not only be able to penetrate armor but also have
a devastating beyond-armor effect after penetration.
FFV and the Swedish Army began the first evaluation firings of the prototype AT4s in the spring
of 1981 with 100 tested by early 1982.
The AT4 may be considered a disposable, low-cost alternative to a Carl Gustaf 8.4cm recoilless
rifle.
The AT4 took many of its design features from the Carl Gustaf, which operates on the principle
of a recoilless weapon, where the forward inertia of the projectile is balanced by the
inertia of propellant gases ejecting from the rear of the barrel.
But unlike the Carl Gustaf, which uses a heavier and more expensive steel tube with rifling,
the disposable AT4 design greatly reduces manufacturing costs by using a reinforced
smoothbore fiberglass outer tube.
The disadvantage of the recoilless design is that it creates a large backblast area
behind the weapon, which can cause severe burns and overpressure injuries to friendly
personnel in the vicinity of the user and sometimes even to the users themselves, especially
in confined spaces.
The backblast may also reveal the user's position to the enemy.
The problem of backblast was solved with the AT4-CS (Confined Space) version, specially
designed for urban warfare.
There are several different projectiles for the AT4.
1.
HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank): The HEAT projectile can penetrate up to 450 mm (17.5
inches) of RHA or Rolled Homogeneous Armor with a beyond-armour effect.
2.
HEDP 502 (High Explosive Dual Purpose): For use against bunkers, buildings, enemy personnel
in the open and light armor.
The projectile can be set to detonate on impact or with a slightly delayed detonation.
3.
HP (High Penetration): Extra high penetration ability (up to 500 mm to 600 mm (19.7 inches
to 23.6 inches) of RHA.) 4.
AST (Anti Structure Tandem-warheads) This projectile combines a HEAT warhead with a
shallow cone, which results in low penetration but produces a wide hole, with a follow-through
high-blast warhead.
It has two settings: one for destroying bunkers and one for mouse-holing a building wall for
combat entry.
5.
ER (Extended Range): It is that Anti-armor version with HEAT warhead.
6.
HE (High Explosive) Anti-personnel weapon that can be set for impact or airburst detonation.
Depending on the warhead, AT4 has an effective range of 500 m to 2000 m
Weapons are pouring into Ukraine from different countries.
As per reports, the United States, Canada and 19 European countries have so far responded
to Ukrainian appeals for military equipment.
Ukraine has received a significant number of Stinger, Javelin, NLAWS and the Swedish
AT4 seems to be the latest addition.
The AT4 requires little training and is quite simple to use, making it suitable for this
battle.
According to many experts, it is clear that Russia's armor thrust is facing logistic problems
and probably low crew morale.
This is a perfect recipe for ambushes especially keeping in view that Ukrainian forces are
operating in their own land and know the terrain better than Russians.
If provided in quantity as promised AT4 has the potential to inflict major losses to Russian
amour forces.