M67 recoilless rifle

M67 recoilless rifle
The M67 recoilless rifle
Type	Recoilless rifle
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1960s–1975 2011–?
Wars	Salvadoran Civil War Vietnam War Falklands War War in Afghanistan
Specifications
Weight	37.5 lb (17 kg)
Length	53 in (1,346 mm)
Height	17 in (432 mm)
Crew	3
Caliber	3.54 in (90 mm)
Rate of fire	1 rpm
Muzzle velocity	700 ft/s (213 m/s)
Maximum firing range	2,300 yd (2,100 m)
Sights	Telescopic with stadia lines

The M67 recoilless rifle was a 90 mm anti-tank recoilless rifle made in the United States and later in the Republic of Korea. It could also be employed in an anti-personnel role with the use of the M590 antipersonnel round. It was designed to be fired primarily from the ground using the bipod and monopod, but could also be fired from the shoulder using the folded bipod as a shoulder rest and the monopod as a front grip. The weapon was air-cooled and breech-loaded, and fired fixed ammunition. It is a direct fire weapon employing stadia lines to allow simple range finding, based on a typical tank target bridging the lines once in range.

Introduced in the early 1960s to Army and Marine Corps service, the M67 was used in the Vietnam War together with the much larger 106 mm M40. The M67 proved a reliable and effective weapon, though it was primarily used against personnel and fortifications in combat, and saw little or no use against armor. While troops praised its effectiveness, the M67 came under heavy criticism due to the weapon's weight and length as well as its backblast, which often precluded its use in offensive operations. Because of these disadvantages, some Marine Corps units continued to use the old M20 Super Bazooka in preference to the M67. It was largely replaced in Army service by the M47 Dragon anti-tank missile system starting in 1975.

The M67 was not completely withdrawn from infantry service. Instead, it was retained as a substitute standard antitank weapon for special tasks or battle environments. Since the batteries of the Dragon and the wires of the TOW could fail due to extremely low temperatures, the M67 was used for units deploying to arctic environments and remained in many infantry units in West Germany, such as the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division. In 1988, the 6th Light Infantry Division in Alaska was still using the M67 in its special weapons platoons. Two M67s were used by C Co 5/87th (Lt Infantry) 193rd Infantry Brigade during Operation Just Cause in the Republic of Panama in 1989, using the M590 Antipersonal ammunition. Similarly, the urban environment of West Berlin prompted the Army to keep the weapon with the 4th, 5th and 6th Battalions of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, Berlin Brigade, as late as winter 1991; the M47 Dragon replaced it in January 1992. The Army Rangers retained the M67 in their weapons platoons until the 1990s, when it was replaced by the 84 mm M3 Carl Gustav; Ranger M67s played a key role in knocking out four to five BTR-60 APCs of the People's Revolutionary Army in Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury in 1983. Lastly, Combat Engineer units used the M67 as a demolition gun to destroy bunkers and other hard point targets as part of their MTOE (Modified Table Of Organization & Equipment) at least as late as 1990.