Mexican TV reports that dozens of U.S. AT-4 weapons systems, which were originally shipped to Ukraine, have been purchased by Cartel Golfo in Mexico.

Citizen Press citing Mexican News TV ^ | 6/1/2023

[Pajamajan]

Nice. Wasn’t somebody supposed to keep track of them? 🙄

[Brian Griffin]

Lend Lease, Joe Biden style

[Flavious_Maximus]

A cartel that can now target the Pentagon, CIA and FBI buildings as well as air force one.

Just as predicted.

[Brian Griffin]

From Wikipedia:

The AT4 is a Swedish 84 mm (3.31 in) unguided, man-portable, disposable, shoulder-fired recoilless anti-tank weapon manufactured by Saab Bofors Dynamics...

The AT4 is not a rocket launcher strictly speaking, because the explosive warhead is not propelled by a rocket motor. Rather, it is a smooth-bore recoilless gun (as opposed to a recoilless rifle, which has a rifled barrel). Saab has had considerable sales success with the AT4, making it one of the most common light anti-tank weapons in the world. The M136 AT4 is a variant used by the United States Army.

The name AT4 is a word play on the 84 mm caliber of the weapon, (84) ‘eighty four’ being a homophone of ‘A-T-4’. The name also doubles as an alpha-phonetic word play on the weapon’s role, due to “AT” being a common military abbreviation for “anti-tank”. The name was created for export purposes as the nickname “eighty-four” was already a common English nickname for the Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle after its caliber.

The AT4 is intended to give infantry units a means to destroy or disable armoured fighting vehicles and fortifications, although it is generally ineffective against more modern main battle tanks (MBTs), especially those with reactive armour, unless weaker sections of armour are exploited. The launcher and projectile are manufactured prepacked and issued as one unit of ammunition, with the launcher discarded after one use.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT4

[Brian Griffin]

Also from that Wikipedia article:

The AT4 was designed as a weapon to engage medium-to-light armoured vehicles from any direction or MBTs from the sides or rear, and as an assault weapon effective against buildings and fortifications. FFV’s prime design goal was a weapon that was simple to use, rugged, and far more accurate against moving targets than previous individual antiarmour weapons. Another key requirement was that the AT4 not only be able to penetrate armour, but also exhibit devastating beyond-armour effect after penetration.

[tlozo]

Mexican TV reports that dozens of U.S. AT-4 weapons systems, which were originally shipped to Ukraine, have been purchased by Cartel Golfo in Mexico.

Right, they know somehow that it didn't come from South American countries like Venezuela, that have previously sold the AT-4 to FARQ. Okay

The AT4 has been in the Venezuelan arsenal since the 1980s. In 2009, it was reported that AT4s sold to Venezuela had been captured from FARC insurgents in Colombia, leading Colombia to accuse Venezuela of selling the weapons to the insurgents, and Venezuela reporting that they were stolen by a rebel attack on a Venezuelan position in 1995, thus heightening tensions between the two countries

[Brian Griffin]

More from Wikipedia:

unlike the Carl Gustaf, which uses a heavier and more expensive steel tube with rifling, the disposable AT4 design greatly reduces manufacturing costs by using a reinforced smoothbore fiberglass outer tube. Being a disposable gun also allows for lighter and cheaper construction. In a single-use disposable gun, the barrel only needs to be able to contain a single pressure spike when firing, when it can be disposed of, even if it is ruined, burnt-out and strained, unlike traditional guns which are required to survive many pressure spikes without failure and thus need to be strongly overbuilt and made of heat-proof materials. Pressures are also kept quite low compared to many traditional guns. This lightweight and thin barrel and low pressure, combined with the almost complete lack of recoil, means that relatively large projectiles (comparable to those found in mortars and artillery systems) can be utilised, which would otherwise be impossible in a man-portable weapon.

The problem of back blast was solved with the AT4-CS (Confined Space) version, specially designed for urban warfare. This version uses a saltwater countermass in the rear of the launcher to absorb the back blast; the resulting spray captures and dramatically slows down the pressure wave, allowing troops to fire from enclosed areas.

[Brian Griffin]

“they know somehow that it didn’t come from South American countries like Venezuela”

Venezuela is not at war so it can keep its AT-4s locked up.

Ukraine is at war and its AT-4s have to be given out to Ukrainian soldiers at the front.

That’s not proof they came from Ukraine, only a strong basis for believing they did.

[bert]

Neo Isolationist propaganda masquerading as truth

[tlozo]

Venezuela is not at war so it can keep its AT-4s locked up.

LOL, Venezuela has previously sold AT-4 to FARQ, a terrorit group.

[Brian Griffin]

Effective firing range 300 m (point target)
Maximum firing range 500 m (area target)
2,100 m (maximum)

Filling Octol
Filling weight 440 g high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) round

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT4

Octol is a melt-castable, high explosive mixture consisting of HMX and TNT in different weight proportions.

Composition
Two formulations are commonly used:

70% HMX & 30% TNT
75% HMX & 25% TNT
Given that HMX has a much higher detonation velocity than TNT (over 2,000 metres per second faster) and forms the main part of this explosive blend, the brisance characteristics of Octol can be inferred.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octol

[Brian Griffin]

“LOL, Venezuela has previously sold AT-4 to FARQ, a terrorit group.”

FARQ is not likely to give up a highly effective and hard to replace weapon for mere dinero.

A Ukrainian soldier sick of war is likely to want to provide for his future.

That’s not proof they came from Ukraine, only a another strong basis for believing they did.

[Tupelo]

Thanks. Early here and only one cup of coffee so far.

[tlozo]

FARQ is not likely to give up a highly effective and hard to replace weapon for mere dinero

Sure, lets ignore the fact that AT-4's have been used by terrorist groups like FARQ in Columbia who bought them from Venezuela. So maybe Venezuela who has a history of selling AT-4's to terrorist groups sold them to the cartel.

[shooter223]

[tlozo]

A Ukrainian soldier sick of war is likely to want to provide for his future.

Look Mexican cartel has M16's and grenades well then according to Putinista logic it must have come from around the world from Ukraine, from a "Ukrainian soldier sick of war" not from a closer likelier source like Venezuela. Idiotic Propaganda

Mexico's cartels are finding new ways to get their hands on a new kind of gun

According to sources inside the Sinaloa Cartel and to details gleaned from recent arms seizures, cartels are increasingly sourcing their weapons from Central America.

A recent report by the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) details at least 45 points between Mexico and Guatemala used by arms traffickers to smuggle weapons northward, most of them over land or by sea.

https://www.businessinsider.com/mexican-cartels-getting-more-weapons-from-new-source-2022-2

[mfish13]

Who would have guessed it???

[Antihero101607]

𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔4𝘴?

As another Freeper pointed out, you’re looking at practical accuracy in the neighborhood of 300, 400 yards. I believe my old Airman’s Manual lists the max effective range as being around 600; what M855 (62 grain steel core) does to a person out that far, how much steam the bullet has left that far down range is out of my level of experience. Some people sneer at 5.56/.223 as being a poodle shooter; however it’s not to be underestimated; if memory serves me correctly Kyle Rittenhouse only had a magazine loaded with 55 grain ball ammo on that night.

Same family of weapons, there used to be a thread over at AR15.com, where a guy was documenting reaching out and hitting an IPSC target out at 1000 yards with a rack grade M16A2 upper, and milspec semi auto lower receiver.

[This_Dude]

About 400 yards for an M4. Difficult shot without an optic but reasonably doable. 5.56 range depends heavily on barrel length

[This_Dude]

An AT4 isn’t gonna do much against any of the targets you said. It’s an AT round, not a cruise missile.

And hell no on AF1. How are you supposed to hit a plane with an unguided munition when the plane is higher than the range of the weapon? It’s an AT4, not a pac-3 patriot missile.