APILAS (Armor Piercing Light Arm System) 

     Notes:  This is an unusual antitank rocket used by France, Finland, Italy, and Jordan.  The missile is equipped with a telescopic sight, and the launcher can be easily changed to accommodate left- and right-handed firers.  The sight includes an antiflash face shield due to the high launch velocity.  (An unfortunate side-effect is the APILASs massive backblast.)  The APILAS is heavy but effective due to its 108mm warhead. 

     The ABB is variant of the APILAS antitank rocket launcher (see below) used as a bunker buster.  The launcher uses the Davis Countershot principle, ejecting a mass of plastic beads from the rear of the launcher to reduce firing signature and eliminate recoil.  It may be fired from as little as 1 meter in front of a wall with no ill effects to the firer from backblast.  The warhead may be adjusted before firing to provide an impact burst or a delayed burst, penetrating light obstacles before exploding.  The ABB is capable of blasting a 250mm wide hole in reinforced concrete 200mm thick.  The ABB is disposable. 

DARD-120 

     Notes:  This is a French-built heavy rocket launcher.  The DARD comes in two sections: a launcher section, with a pistol grip/trigger which can be rotated for left- and right-hand firers, shoulder rest, and sight unit, along with the launch tube; and the ammunition container, which is snapped into the tube of the launcher.  The price of the launcher includes an optical sight with a magnification of 3.5x; this can be replaced by any number of other optical or night-vision sights. 

LRAC-89

     Notes: This has been used extensively by French forces and others; however, in the late 1990s, France herself discarded it in favor of one-shot, lighter rockets such as the AT-4.  It is a medium rocket launcher made largely of glass fiber and plastic to save weight.  The rockets and launcher come in two tubes; the rocket section is loaded into the rear of the launching tube, and then discarded after firing.  The launcher has an adjustable shoulder piece that can be moved back and forth to suit the firer.  The launcher is equipped with a bipod to steady the launcher; unusually, the bipod is part of the shoulder piece, behind the pistol grip, and it is at the balance point of the weapon when a rocket module in attached.  It is equipped with a telescopic sight and a folding foregrip.  Note that the pistol grip is shaped somewhat like a clamp; the two halves must be squeezed together, then the trigger pulled, for the LRAC-89 to fire, and therefore the LRAC-89 essentially has a grip safety.

     The ACIP-300 is a version of the LRAC-89 that France was experimenting with in the mid-1980s, but what happened to it after that I do not know.  It was designed with penetrating the glacis plate of a T-72 of the time period in mind.  The unfortunate byproduct of the increased warhead size is the short range.

Sabracan 

     Notes:  Another French antiarmor launcher, Sabracan was developed to be a lighter, cheaper counterpart to the APILAS ATGM.  Sabracan eliminates most of the backblast by using a booster motor to clear the tube before igniting the sustaining motor, and can be used from confined spaces.  Sabracan was unfortunately a casualty of 1980s budget cuts and never procured by any country.

     Twilight 2000 Notes: The French Foreign Legion deployed the Sabracan in huge numbers, generally employing it in favor of the DARD-120.  The British Royal Marines were also known to use it, as well as US Army Rangers operating in the Persian Gulf.

SARPAC

    Notes:  This was a light rocket launcher the French were experimenting with in the early to mid-1980s.  It is a “semi-disposable” rocket launcher; it is not meant to be used for years, but instead wears out after about 20 launches.  The sights are very simple, similar to the various LAW-type weapons around the world. 

Wasp

     Notes:  This weapon was designed for the direct attack of light armored vehicles at short range.  Its backblast is small, since it uses the Davis Countershot principle.  The Wasp is used by France and Italy, and over 400,000 had been produced by 1996.  The weapon is ready use almost instantly, without lengthy preparation.