NOTE: This article is about the M72 LAW rocket launcher in ArmA: CWA/ARMA Reforger. For other similarly named articles, you may wish to use the following links instead:
LAW is a lightweight, self-contained, antiarmor weapon consisting of a rocket packed in a launcher. It is man-portable, may be fired from either shoulder, and is issued as a round of ammunition. It requires little from the user--only a visual inspection and some operator maintenance. The launcher, which consists of two tubes, one inside the other, serves as a watertight packing container for the rocket and houses a percussion-type firing mechanism that activates the rocket.
The M72 LAW is an unguided and reloadable, portable short-range rocket launcher.
It uses 66 mm rockets fitted with a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead and has a maximum firing range of 300 metres.
The LAW serves as the primary anti-tank launcher of U.S. forces at the height of the Malden Islands Crisis. Like its Soviet counterpart, the M72 LAW is designed to be a short-ranged AT weapon. The LAW's rockets are powerful enough to destroy most light ground vehicles like troop transports and Infantry Fighting Vehicles in a single hit.
However, better armoured vehicles such as the T-72 will require a minimum of two rockets to destroy. The heaviest of armoured vehicles like the T-80 will necessitate at least three shots to disable. Against such targets, the Carl Gustav would be preferable due to the latter's significantly more powerful warhead.
Sight[]
Munitions[]
LAW Rocket
The M72 LAW can only be loaded with one type of rocket. It requires two free inventory slots to carry:
Damage type
Base damage value
High-Explosive
500
The rocket is always fired with an initial velocity of 30 m/s and only needs 0.2 seconds after launch to reach a maximum speed of 350 m/s in mid-flight. The warhead has a blast radius of 2.5 metres.
Trivia[]
As with the RPG-75NH, Cold War Assault's M72 is incorrectly depicted as a reloadable weapon. In reality, the launcher's spent tube cannot be reused once it has been fired.
Prior to Patch 1.10 for Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (the original name of Cold War Assault prior to its re-release), a bug would cause the player's view to spin around if they were carrying an empty M72 on their back.[1]
The information below details unused, pre-release or removed content.
Unused ArmA 3 LAW reticle.
Pre-Alpha screenshots as well as unused string references[2] and a leftover icon (Texture name: m_law_ca.paa[3]) indicate that the M72 LAW was presumably meant to have made a return as a usable launcher in ArmA 3.
A dedicated reticle for the M72 LAW's flip-up ironsight is also present, though it too remains completely unused.[4]
Unfortunately, the model itself no longer exists in the game's files, which would suggest that the M72 LAW was removed early in development.
Gallery[]
Promotional screenshot released during the pre-Alpha phase of ArmA 3's development. Note the silhouette of the NATO infantryman in the centre-left, carrying what appears to be the M72 LAW.
Unused inventory icon for the ArmA 3 LAW's rocket.
ARMA Reforger[]
OUTDATED: The information in this article is currently out-of-date and needs to be updated with newer information based on changes from a recent patch.
This section is a stub. You can help Armed Assault Wiki by expanding it.
The M72A3 LAW in Reforger serves as a disposable counterpart to the SovietRPG-7V1. Both fulfil a similar role, the main difference being that unlike the RPG-7V1, LAWs cannot be reloaded after firing and the tube must be discarded upon use.
LAWs are always pre-loaded with a single 66 mm rocket fitted a high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead. The leaf sight is adjustable and can be set for targets at distances of between 50 m up to a maximum of 350 m (adjustments are made with increments/decrements of 50 m).
Sight[]
The LAW's sight can be zeroed starting at a minimum of 50 metres up to a maximum of 350 metres (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350).
By default, the sight uses a zeroing of 50 metres. The LAW's peephole is not illuminated. However, the front leaf's markings are tinted in red and will be clearly visible under low-light conditions.
Munitions[]
The M72A3 LAW is restricted to one type of rocket. It is a disposable launcher and cannot be reloaded:
Ammo parameters
Primary warhead (expl.)
Primary warhead (frag.)
Secondary warhead
Spall
Damage type
Explosive + Incendiary
Fragmentation
Kinetic + Incendiary
Kinetic
Base damage value
200 (E) / 12 (I)
3
509 (K) + 7 (I)
50
Initial velocity (m/s)
150
1,000
1,000
1,000
Penetrator type
N/A
N/A
Chemical (K)
Chemical
Penetration depth (mm)
0
0
320 (K)
128
Penetration density (g/cm3)
N/A
N/A
7.86 (K)
7.86
Penetration speed (m/s)
N/A
N/A
1,000 (K)
1,000
66mm HEAT M72A3 Rocket
66 mm high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rocket.
It is launched with an initial velocity of 150 m/s. Rockets have a minimum fuse range of 10 metres and a maximum flight time of 6.1 seconds. The warhead consists of two components: the primary explosive, and a secondary chemical-based penetrator submunition.
Upon impact, the primary component will deal explosive damage to all targets with a radius of 10 metres. Only targets that are within 8 metres of the blast will take incendiary damage. Lastly, the primary component will also disperse up to 15 fragments in a cylindrical-shaped radius of 20 metres, dealing fragmentation-type damage to any targets hit by the shrapnel.
On the other hand, the secondary submunition is launched with a velocity of 1,000 m/s and can pierce up to 320 millimetres of armour plating. It deals both kinetic and incendiary-type damage.
Each rocket weighs 0.900 kg, occupies 2x1 inventory slots, and has a volume capacity constraint of 1,000 cm3.
Trivia[]
Reforger's iteration of the LAW is the first official weapon in the entire series to properly function as a disposable weapon (for obvious reasons this does not include the mechanic's debut in third party-developed Creator DLCs).
When Reforger was initially in Early Access, the M72's launcher tube would appear empty even if it had a rocket loaded in the tube. This was eventually fixed after the release of Update 0.9.5.97 which replaced the rocket's model with a new one.[5]
Before the release of Update 0.9.9.62, a bug would cause the M72 to not be slung over the wearer's back if they interrupted the holstering animation (i.e. the player was melee attacked by another person or they swapped to throwing grenades).[6]
Prior to the first major Ground Support update[7], the game's engine did not take into account the weight of 66 mm rockets in loaded M72s. This was changed by the patch's release so that its weight is now properly accounted for.
Gallery[]
Pre-0.9.5.97 LAW with an empty tube (even when loaded).
United States - Armoury (ArmA: Cold War Assault)
FIA - Armoury (ArmA: Cold War Assault)