The Scorpion Urban Fighting Weapon was a single-shot underbarrel rocket launcher developed by McDonnell Douglas as part of the Multipurpose Individual Munitions Program (MPIM) for urban combat.

During the 1980s, the US Army commenced the Multipurpose Individual Munitions program, aimed at equipping infantry with a more effective weapon for urban combat. One of the candidates was the Scorpion, a weapon offered by McDonnell Douglas and sponsored by the US Army Missile Command service.

The concept of the Scorpion was for a small rocket launcher that could be installed under an M16. The Scorpion was a disposable launch tube weapon similar to the M72 LAW, simple to operate and maintain without affecting the rifle it was mounted on. The Scorpion had its own fire controls, and was aimed using the existing sights of the host rifle.

During testing, the Scorpion met penetration goals, but failed to meet weight goals and was criticised for rendering the host weapon too unwieldy for close quarter urban fighting, due to being only slightly shorter than the M16 itself and more than doubling its weight while mounted.

  • @uservoid1
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    510 months ago

    What enhancements was it supposed to give compared with the existing M203 grenade launcher?

    • Pons_Aelius
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      510 months ago

      I expect it would not be seen as a replacement for the M203.

      The 203 was anti-personnel while this would be anti-material.

      • @uservoid1
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        410 months ago

        Could be range and penetration

        Scorpion https://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.php?smallarms_id=1178

        In combat, the weapon could be used for breaching all sorts of materials - wood, brick, concrete (reinforced) - and featured a rate-of-fire of nearly five rounds-per-minute. It could also defeat earthen structures and the light armor of vehicles. Effective range was out to 985 feet with a muzzle velocity of 1,350 feet-per-second featured. Listed blast diameter was 20 feet.

        M203 https://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.php?smallarms_id=6

        An effective precision range of 492 feet was reachable while an area out to 1,148 could be targeted depending on environmental conditions. The official maximum range of the M203 was 1,312 feet with a minimum effective range of just over 100 feet (the latter for safety reasons).

    • @FireTowerOPM
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      310 months ago

      My guess is payload. 40mm vs 55mm maybe they wanted that extra 15mm for more unique munitions like HEAT rounds.

  • Pons_Aelius
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    310 months ago

    I struggle to see the benefit of this over the M72, not surprised it was dropped.

    Recoil vs recoilless while still being a one shot deal.