Earlier, The Wall
Street Journal reported that the US administration allowed the Baltic countries
to supply American-made anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine and is
going to send five Mi-17 military transport helicopters there.
The delivery was
reported by the information portal of the U.S. Department of Defence DVIDS,
which published photos of the process of preparing weapons for departure to
Ukraine. On Jan. 23, a Boeing 747 carrying 80 tons of U.S. weapons landed at
the International Boryspil airport near Kyiv, following an earlier delivery of
90 tons of U.S. weapons to Ukraine.
Among the photos of
the ammunition consignment, which are being prepared for shipment to Ukraine,
there are transport tubes with Javelin anti-RPG missiles, as well as light
disposable M141 Bunker Defeat Munition (BDM) or SMAW-D ("disposable")
grenade launchers.
SMAW-D is a light
anti-tank modification of the SMAW Mk 153 grenade launcher, disposable on a
"shot and throw" basis. The design is close to the AT4 RPG. It does
not have a handle and removable optical sights, instead it has a rather
primitive mechanical sight. Weighs 7.25 kg (16 pounds) equipped. Comes in a
sealed launcher in the form of ready for combat use.
The main ammunition for the SMAW grenade launcher is a thermobaric M.K. 3 HEDP (High-Explosive Dual-Purpose) grenade containing 1.1 kg of explosives.
The detonator is
designed for two modes: instantaneous detonation when firing at armoured
objects and for making passages in walls and barriers, or detonation with
deceleration when destroying unarmoured targets and fortifications with earth
or sand or covered with sandbags.
The grenade can pierce
up to 200 mm of concrete, 300 mm of brick or 2.1 m of sandbags.
