MAAWS

NOTE: This article is about the Carl Gustav M2/MAAWS in the main ARMA games. For U.S. military MAAWS launchers in ArmA 3's CSLA Iron Curtain Creator DLC, see MAAWS (CSLA).

The MAAWS (full name: Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon System^[1]) is an 84 mm rocket launcher featured in ArmA: Cold War Assault, ArmA 2 and ArmA 3.

ArmA: Cold War Assault[]

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The M2 Carl Gustav is the anti-tank recoilless rifle. The weapon is fitted with iron sights, and it is equipped with a 2 power optical sight with a 17 degree field of view. This is fitted with a temperature correction device, and luminous front and rear adaptors are available for night work.

Weapon Description^[2]

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The Carl Gustav M2 84 mm rocket launcher.

The Carl Gustav M2 is an 84 mm rocket launcher used exclusively by U.S. military forces in ArmA: Cold War Assault.

Overview[]

The Carl Gustav is a portable, anti-tank recoilless rifle. It is designed to launch unguided 84 mm rockets.

It can load and fire rockets that are fitted with high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads. It has a maximum effective range of up to 600-700 metres.

The Carl Gustav serves as the heavy AT weapon counterpart to the lighter M72 LAW rocket launcher used by U.S. forces. Unlike the M72 LAW, the Carl Gustav's damage output is much greater due to its larger warhead. It can easily destroy Soviet medium tanks like the T-72 in a single hit. Even heavy tanks like the T-80 are not completely safe from the Carl Gustav and can be disabled from just one rocket. A second hit will usually outright destroy it.

Its only real downside stems from its excessive weight as rockets occupy up to six inventory slots at once.^{[CWACfgW 3]} This in effect restricts the user to firing only one rocket per engagement - assuming that they can't resupply in the field. The M72 LAW on the other hand, only takes up two slots per rocket^{[CWACfgW 4]}, and allows the operator to carry up to three while having the same amount of room to spare for their primary weapon (at the cost of each rocket being less powerful).

Nonetheless, its raw firepower more than makes up for this drawback. When used in an entrenched position with a supply crate of rockets nearby, a fireteam of Carl Gustav operators can bring an enemy tank formation to a grinding halt.

Optics[]

Recoil curves[]

 
{
    title: {
        text: 'LAWSingle'
    },
    tooltip: {
        trigger: 'axis',
        axisPointer: {
            type: 'cross',
            label: {
                backgroundColor: '#824100'
            }
        }
    },
    legend: {
        data: ['Time Taken', 'Kickback', 'Kick Up']
    },
    toolbox: {
        feature: {
            saveAsImage: {}
        }
    },
    grid: {
        left: '3%',
        right: '4%',
        bottom: '3%',
        containLabel: true
    },
    xAxis: [
        {
            name: 'Duration',
            nameLocation: 'middle',
            type: 'category',
            boundaryGap: false,
            data: ['0', '0.01', '0.02', '0.03']
        }
    ],
    yAxis: [
        {
            name: 'Amplitude',
            nameLocation: 'end',
            type: 'value'
        }
    ],
    series: [
        {
            name: 'Time Taken',
            type: 'line',
            stack: 'Total',
            label: {
                show: true,
                position: 'top',
            },
            areaStyle: {},
            emphasis: {
                focus: 'series'
            },
            data: [0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2],
            smooth: true
        },
        {
            name: 'Kickback',
            type: 'line',
            stack: 'Total',
            label: {
                show: true,
                position: 'top',
            },
            areaStyle: {},
            emphasis: {
                focus: 'series'
            },
            data: [0, 0.08, 0.03, 0],
            smooth: true
        },
        {
            name: 'Kick Up',
            type: 'line',
            stack: 'Total',
            label: {
                show: true,
                position: 'top',
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            areaStyle: {},
            emphasis: {
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            data: [0, 0.03, 0.015, 0],
            smooth: true
        }
    ]
}

Charts/graphs are not available on mobile. Please switch to desktop mode in order to see them.

Munitions[]

OFP-ammunition-carlgustav — Carl Gustav Rocket

The Carl Gustav supports being loaded with only one type of rocket.^{[CWACfgW 5]} Each rocket will occupy up to six^{[CWACfgW 3]} inventory slots:

Parameter	Value
Base damage value	800^{[CWACfgA 1]}
Splash damage value	200^{[CWACfgA 2]}
Blast radius (metres)	2.5^{[CWACfgA 3]}
Launch velocity (m/s)	30^{[CWACfgW 6]}
Maximum speed (m/s)	200^{[CWACfgA 4]}

Rockets are always fired with an initial velocity of 30 m/s.^{[CWACfgW 6]} It will take at least 1.5 seconds^{[CWACfgA 5]} of flight time for the rocket to attain a top speed of 200 m/s.^{[CWACfgA 4]} The rocket's warhead has a blast radius of 2.5 metres.^{[CWACfgA 3]}

Trivia[]

Whilst not technically anachronistic or unauthentic, the M2 model of the Carl Gustav was not actually used in large numbers with conventional U.S. forces during the mid-1980s; contrary to how it is depicted in Cold War Assault.^[3]^[4]
- The U.S. military had long since transitioned to using the guided "M47 Dragon" launcher that was first developed in the mid 1970s. Unlike the Carl Gustav, the Dragon was actually employed as the primary heavy anti-tank weapon of U.S. Army infantrymen.^[5]
Despite being completely different weapons, the Carl Gustav shares the same reticle with its Soviet counterpart.
Prior to Patch 1.10 for Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (Cold War Assault's original title before its re-release), a bug would cause the player's view to spin around if they were carrying an empty Carl Gustav on their back.^[6]

Gallery[]

ArmA 2[]

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The Carl Gustav (US designation MAAWS) is the common name for the 84mm man-portable multi-role recoilless rifle.
This weapon was itroduced in 1948 and for that time, it have greatly superior accuracy at longer ranges in comparison with similar anti-tank weapons. All other weapons of that era are long out of service, MAAWS is still widespread used.

Armoury Description^[7]

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The MAAWS is an 84 mm rocket launcher used by both the U.S. Army and Czech military forces in ArmA 2. It was added with the release of the Operation Arrowhead expansion pack.