LAW 80
The LAW 80 (Light Anti-armour Weapon 80), officially referred to as the L1A1 94mm HEAT Rocket System in British service, is a man-portable, disposable anti-tank weapon previously used by the British Army and a few other militaries.
LAW 80
US Army, Public Affairs Office, Washington DC · Public domain
- Name
- LAW 80
- Field
- rocket-propelled grenade
- Region
- United Kingdom
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1309371 · wikipedia · LAW 80
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — LAW 80 • Origin — United Kingdom • Type — Rocket-propelled grenade (anti-tank, disposable) • Is Ranged — yes • Is Explosive — yes • Is Missile — yes • Is Uk — yes • Service — 1987–present • Used By — See • Wars — * Cold War • War on terror • Manufacturer — Hunting Engineering • Production Date — 1986–1997 • Number — c. 135,000 • Weight — * 9 kg loaded • 4.6 kg projectile • Length — * 1.5 m firing • 1 m carrying • Crew — 1 • Caliber — 94 mm • Range — 20500 m • Sights — ×1 magnification telescopic sight • Filling — HEAT • Detonation — Contact fuze • Yield — 600–700 rha mm • Propellant — HTPB • Launch Platform — Man-portable launcher
Operators
Operators
• Illustration — Operators
Current operators
Current operators
• Botswana • Jordan • Sierra Leone
Past operators
Past operators
• United Kingdom: Initially adopted in the early 1990s, replacing the L14A1 84 mm Carl Gustav recoilless rifle and M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon (Rocket 66mm HEAT L1A1), it was withdrawn on safety grounds in favour of the AT-4 CS and eventually the FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile and NLAW.
Addermine
Addermine
Addermine is an acoustic sensor system which uses the LAW 80 as a kill mechanism to create an anti-armour off-route mine. It can also be command detonated from up to 200 m away, or 2 km via a laser optical link.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United Kingdom
Named but not plotted · 1
LAW 80 is associated with United Kingdom.
Country
Description
The weapon consists of an extendable launch tube with an integrated 9 mm spotting rifle and 1× sight. The spotting rifle has five rounds of ammunition, and is ballistically matched to the rocket. The rounds it uses are quite unusual, consisting of a 9 mm tracer bullet loaded in a necked up 7.62mm NATO shell casing, with a.22 Hornet blank mounted in the base of the larger case, providing the propellant charge. Upon firing, the.22 cartridge case pushes out of the back of the 7.62 mm casing, unlocking the breech of the spotting rifle in a form of primer actuation. To launch the rocket the firer removes the large protective end caps and extends the rear of the launch tube, opens the sight, and moves the arming lever to "armed". The weapon is then in spotting rifle mode. To fire the rocket, the firer moves a charge lever forward with his firing hand thumb. The rocket motor burns out before it leaves the launch tube, the resulting blast being directed rearwards from the launch tube. The rocket then coasts to the target, arming itself after it has passed a certain arming distance. The warhead is a HEAT shaped charge and can penetrate between 650 mm and c. 700 mm of rolled homogeneous armour.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “LAW 80”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1309371: LAW 80
General reference · Wikidata
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article LAW 80, revision 1368755229 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.LAW-80. Forecast International. September 1998.
- 2.Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom). Army Code No. 71435, Rocket System 94mm Heat L1A1 (LAW). 1989.
- 3.The Directory of the World's Weapons, Bookmart Ltd (1996), ,
- 4.Cartridge of the Month. cartridgecollectors.org.
- 5.Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom). Army Code No. 71428, Infantry Training Volume III, Pamphlet No 14, Rocket System 94mm HEAT (LAW). May 1988.
- 6.Google Sites. sites.google.com.
- 7.Jones, Richard D. Jane's Infantry Weapons 2009/2010. Jane's Information Group; 35 edition (27 January 2009). .
- 8.World Infantry Weapons: Sierra Leone. 2013.
- 9.Owen, William F. Light Anti-Armour Weapons: Anti-Everything?. Asian Military Review. 2007.
- 10.Heyman, Charles. The British Army: A Pocket Guide 2002-2003. Casemate Publishers. 128. 2008. 9781783378968.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
Connections
Knowledge graph
Connections
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Broader subject
1- rocket-propelled grenadeTerminology
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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