M136 AT4 Rocket Launcher

The M136 AT4 is a one-shot, disposable, 84mm rocket launcher found throughout the US military.

The M136 fires a fin-stabilized projectile fitted with a shaped warhead. The M136 can be pre-loaded with a number of different warheads:

• High Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP)
  used primarily against bunkers and buildings
• High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT)
  for engaging lightly-armored vehicles (up to 420mm thick rolled homogeneous armour (RHA))
• HP (High Penetration)
  for targets with up to 600mm RHA

The HEDP rocket has been used with great success against bunkers and buildings in Afghanistan and Iraq.

M136 AT4 Specifications

M136 AT4 - Images and Further Info

Force Reconnaissance Marines, attached to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, practice with M136 AT4 rocket launchers.

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Andrew J. Carlson/Released

A member of the 2nd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Brigade (Long Range Surveillance Detachment) engages a Taliban position with a AT4. The AT4 produces a significant back blast when fired, causing damage or injury from the resulting heat and over pressure. AT4 operators are trained to ensure that there is nothing or no one behind them before firing the weapon. A recent modification to the AT4, the AT4-CS (confined space), designed for urban warfare, uses a saltwater mass packed into the launcher tube which absorbs much of the back blast thus enabling the AT4 to be fired from within a building.

U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Michael L. Casteel

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