Saab has received an order from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) for deliveries of ammunition for the recoilless Carl-Gustaf® rifle. The order value is approximately SEK 3 billion and deliveries will take place during 2026-2030. The order is placed within a framework agreement between Saab and FMV which allows purchases of Saab’s Ground Combat weapons Carl-Gustaf, AT4 and NLAW, including ammunition and equipment. During year 2018, FMV signed a contract for deliveries of the latest iteration of the weapon; Carl-Gustaf M4. The wide range of ammunition available for Carl-Gustav further strengthens the system’s tactical flexibility, enabling faster engagement, increased hit probability and greater effectiveness for the soldiers.
“We are proud to continue to deliver our world-leading solutions to Sweden and contribute to the Swedish defence capability. This order secures the Swedish Armed Forces supply of Carl-Gustaf ammunition and is a result of the weapon’s capacity and robustness,” says Micael Johansson, President and CEO of Saab.
The Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle ( named after Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori which initially produced it) is a Swedish developed 84 mm (3.3 in) caliber man-portable shoulder-fired recoilless rifle, initially developed by the Royal Swedish Army Materiel Administration during the second half of the 1940s as a close-range anti-tank and support weapon for infantry, which has seen great export success around the globe and is today a popular multi-purpose support weapon in use by many nations. In Swedish military service, it is officially known as the 8,4 cm granatgevär m/48, m/86 and m/18, depending on the model (M1, M3, M4), but is often simply referred to as the “GRG” (gé-er-gé) after their type designation abbreviation (from granatgevär, meaning “grenade rifle”),
The Carl Gustaf is a lightweight, low-cost weapon that uses a wide range of ammunition, which makes it extremely flexible and suitable for a wide variety of roles. The recoilless gun fires a 84 × 245 mm rimmed recoilless cartridge with a blowout base for propellant gas ventilation. Ammunition initially consisted of high-explosive (HE), high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT), airburst (HE-TF) and smoke shells, not counting target-practice (TP) ammunition, but improvements to the ammunition family have been continual. While the older HEAT rounds are not particularly effective against modern tank armor, the weapon has found new life as a bunker-buster with a high-explosive dual-purpose (HEDP) round.