Sweden will provide Ukraine with an additional 5,000 anti-tank weapons, TT news agency quoted the Swedish Defence Minister saying on Wednesday. Sweden has already sent 5,000 anti-tank weapons, along with other military materiel to Ukraine.
5,000 Swedish anti-tank weapons have arrived in Ukraine, which has broken the Sweden neutrality since 1939. Stockholm’s weapons will give Kyiv more strength to resist the Russian army.
Swedish authorities announced that the first shipments of a total of 5,000 anti-tank weapons donated to Ukraine have arrived. In an interview with the national news agency, Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hulkvist said he had decided to speed up the delivery of anti-tank weapons to Ukraine.
Mr. Peter Hulkvist also said that the anti-tank weapons provided by Sweden show high efficiency, which will help Ukraine strengthen its defenses.
Immediately after Russia launched a military operation on February 24, on February 28, Sweden officially abandoned its “non-aligned” position and stayed outside the military alliances since 1939 to supply weapons to Ukraine.
Sweden will provide direct support to the Ukrainian armed forces. This support will include 135,000 rations, 5,000 helmets, 5,000 body armor, and 5,000 anti-tank weapons,” Prime Minister Andersson said.
“I have come to the conclusion that our security is best protected when we support Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia,” Andersson said.
The anti-tank weapon that Sweden transferred to Ukraine will be the Pansarskott 86 model (international name AT-4) – a disposable anti-tank gun that has been effective in real combat.
Swedish media reported that Ukraine had once offered to receive Robot-57 (NLAW), a more advanced anti-tank system jointly developed between the UK and Sweden. The Robot-57 anti-tank weapon system (NLAW) currently being supplied to Ukraine by the UK has been effective on the battlefield when dozens of modern Russian tanks have been destroyed..
Along with Javelin, the Robot-57 anti-tank missile (NLAW) is currently the most feared anti-tank weapon on the Ukrainian battlefield. Although AT-4 is not as advanced as Robot-57 (NLAW), but Pansarskott 86 (AT-4) is still a fearsome anti-tank and armored weapon when combined with urban warfare.
“Ukraine has requested a weapon system that can hit tanks and armored vehicles and this is the Pansarskott 86,” said Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist.
In addition, the Pansarskott 86 system is easy to use, requires no training, and requires only one soldier to operate,” concluded Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist.
The AT-4 (Pansarskott 86) is one of the most popular shoulder-fired anti-tank guns today. The products jointly developed by the US and Sweden. This weapon was put into service by the US military in 1980 to replace the M72 LAW anti-tank gun, which proved to be weak against the Russian RPG-7 anti-tank gun.
The AT-4 is preferred for its compactness, ease of use, strong power and high accuracy. AT-4 has an overall length of 1,020 mm; caliber 84 mm; weight 6.7 kg. The gun has a folding scope and can be fitted with a day and night optical sight to increase the ability to destroy targets. The effective range of the AT-4 reaches 300 m and maximum firing range is 500m.
The AT-4’s standard anti-tank bullet has a weight of 1.8 kg; length 460 mm; speed of 290 m/s, flight time over 250m is less than 1 second. AT-4 can also be equipped with multi-purpose ammunition HEDP 502, mainly used against fortifications, bunkers. Bullets can be fitted with a contact fuse or a delayed detonator for the purpose of penetrating concrete walls and then detonating to increase destructive power. The HEDP 502 ammunition is also used against light armored vehicles, when it is able to penetrate 150 mm of uniform armor.
In addition, the AT-4 is also equipped with many different types of ammunition such as HP piercing bullets; anti-tank ammunition – fortification AT8 and AST double-dose explosive ammunition.
AT-4 is highly appreciated in the war against terrorism in Iraq because it is very suitable for the task of destroying Russian light armored vehicles attacking Ukraine.