With regards to ABCA procurement I do know that NZ follows the 'pic the best of the bunch' from in-service ABCA equipment. LAV3, MHOV trucks, NH90 helicopters, DMW rifles, LSW machine guns, body armour, etc is all from within the in-service ABCA family. I'm pretty sure that the Australian's main point of difference is that they want to maintain a domestic manufacturing base and that sometimes means a move away from the American/British/Canadian in-service equipment types as the European manufacturers seem more predisposed to licensing arrangements (hence the Steyr rifle and Tigre helicopters).

I've always loved (admittedly it does become a love-hate relationship when I'm carrying the thing) the Carl Gustav but am in no position to comment as to alternative systems or the history with Saab (while the news that they did not support it in SEA is new to me, I do find that revelation interesting). I will say that the CG is a very robust, hard wearing infantry system with a long lifespan and it survives a fair amount of. If the lighter comparable systems lack the same robustness then that could point in the CG's favour.

I would love to see how one of these stacked up against (or complemented) the CG (BLUF: westernised RPG7 launcher): http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2...xporter-rpg-7/

End of the day, we could chase a better system but the CG is good enough and suits us fine right now. We need to remember, too, that most of our efforts should be spent on improving the people and organisational aspects in the infantry rather than continuously pursuing the latest and greatest (and lightest) equipment on offer. The CG might have been a good enough system when it was procured back in the day, and the cost of replacement may have never been worth the gains to be had since.

With regards to 40mm systems I am of the opinion, having spoken to a couple industry types and a few experienced weapon armourers, that there are issues in mounting an MV system under a rifle (weapon wear and breakages are problematic enough with a 40mm LV under-barrel system, with the MV being worse still given the additional recoil involved). Additionally, if you want to benefit from the range and accuracy the MV offers you want a decent sighting system and optimal ergonomics in holding steady and sighting it, which in turn points you towards a stand-alone grenade launcher rather than the under-barrel compromise.