According to Colton Jones in Defence Blog, Thales U.K., a business unit of France-based Thales technology company, was awarded a contract from the British Army for additional NLAW single-shot infantry anti-tank systems.
According to U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, the Ministry of Defense had signed a deal to start replenishing missile stocks run down by the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Within the contract, British Army will receive 500 NLAW anti-tank weapons in 2023, Colton Jones reports. Wallace also said a further deal for thousands of weapons for Britain and other customers will be signed next year.
The Saab Bofors Dynamics NLAW, also known as the MBT LAW or RB 57, is a fire-and-forget, lightweight shoulder-fired, and disposable (single-use) line of sight (LOS) missile system, designed for infantry use. The missile uses a soft-launch system and is guided by predicted line of sight (PLOS). It can carry out an overfly top attack (OTA) on an armoured vehicle, or a direct attack (DA) on structures and non-armoured vehicles.
The system was developed in Sweden by prime contractor Saab Bofors Dynamics, on behalf of the British and Swedish defence authorities who procured the system in a joint venture. It was mainly produced in the United Kingdom by Team MBT LAW UK, which included 14 subcontractors, most notably Thales Air Defence. Users of the weapon include Finland, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.It also has night vision capability and is designed for all climate conditions and environments.