Atlantic Diving Supply receives $17.6 million contract for rocket launchers

Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Atlantic Diving Supply Inc. has received a $17.6 million order against an existing contract for the U.S. Defense Department's purchase of 425 shoulder-launched Multipurpose Assault Weapons Mod 2 rocket launchers.

The work will be performed in Londonderry, N.H., and Lynchburg, Va., and it will run through Sept.

7, 2018.

The rocket launcher is a man-portable device, designed primarily as an assault weapon or "bunker buster" suitable for attacking hardened targets and buildings. It serves a secondary role as an anti-tank weapon using the dual-purpose High Explosive Anti-Tank warhead.

A thermobaric warhead for the rocket launchers has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The warhead, capable of collapsing buildings, ignites the air around it to greatly increasing its destructive power.

The SMAW Mod 2 rocket launcher is an improved version designed to be used in enclosed spaces, unlike the original version whose backblast endangered users unless they were in the open. It can be fitted with a Modular Ballistic Sight with a laser rangefinder and thermal imaging.