U.S. Army Awards Saab $495 Million Contract for XM919 Individual Assault Munition

Saab Inc., New York was awarded a $494,350,000 contract for an unspecified numberof  XM919 Individual Assault Munition (IAM) systems.

Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 26, 2029. Army Contracting Command, Newark, New Jersey, is the contracting activity, a Pentagon announcement said.

The U.S. Army plans to replace its existing mix of M72, M136, and M141 shoulder-fired anti-armor weapons with new IAMs, also already referred to as XM919s.

“The XM919 IAM will be a lightweight Shoulder Launched Munition (SLM) capability for combat units at the individual Soldier level,” the U.S Army said in its fiscal year 2024 budget request. The XM919 is meant in part for urban operations “to defeat adversaries protected by field expedient structures and light armored vehicles while providing behind-the-wall lethality effects”, the request said.

According to a U.S Army fact sheet, the XM919 is a modernized single-shot munition with a multi-target capability. The IAM is the next generation SLM that will replace the AT4 Confined Space - Reduced Sensitivity (AT4CS-RS) and Bunker Defeat Munition (BDM) systems.

Reduces training and logistical burden of multiple systems and the risk of having to choose between SLMs to carry to battle since a single SLM is now capable of defeating multiple targets.