The Saab Bofors Dynamics NLAW (pronounced: enn-LAH, /ˈɛnlɔː/), also known as the MBT LAW or RB 57, is a fire-and-forget, lightweight shoulder-fired, and disposable (single-use) line of sight (LOS) missile system, designed for infantry use.

It was mainly produced in the United Kingdom by Team MBT LAW UK, which included 14 subcontractors, most notably Thales Air Defence.

[8] Swedish Bofors of the Celsius Group (later bought by Saab AB),[24] American Lockheed Martin, and German Dynamit Nobel replied with offers; due to the limited spots of the NLAW-trials come January 2001, only the two former were rewarded with Project Definition Phase contracts in 1999.

[16][25] Accordingly, the NLAW-programme became a British–Swedish joint venture (primarily led by the DPA) assigned to Saab Bofors Dynamics (full development and production).

[4] Deliveries of the weapon began in December 2008; it entered the service of the Swedish, Finnish and British armed forces the following year.

[5][19] It has been estimated that the UK requirement for the British Armed Forces was for 14,000 units, or more; it replaced the obsolescent LAW 80 system and the ILAW (AT4 CS) which was used as a substitute until its deployment.

Initially, the project focused on creating as simple and cost-effective a system as possible; after some analysis, the need for a man-portable anti-tank weapon with great effectiveness at short to mid-range emerged.

[23] In October 1999, the British DPA awarded Bofors (later Saab Bofors Dynamics) with a product definition order to procure a weapon prototype within 22 months, corresponding to the requirements of the British NLAW-programme:[8] To be able to hit a moving target at 400 m (1,300 ft) and a stationary target at 600 m (2,000 ft), with a maximum weight of 12.5 kg (28 lb);[25] some of the requirements later made by the Swedish FMV were a lowered backblast area, a minimum effective range of 20 metres, and an environmental adaptation for international operations.

[7][19] Due to the similar requirements made by the Swedish and British defence authorities, the weapon comes with only minor differences in appearance.

[18] As jobs are often the focus of large material orders, a requirement by the British DPA for signing a contract with the winner was that the production of the system would occur in the United Kingdom.

The final cost for the MBT LAW contract since the beginning of the NLAW-programme, including the assessment phase, development, and manufacture-license, ended up at approximately £400–437 million.

The direct attack (DA) mode is used against non-armoured targets, detonating the warhead on impact via contact fuze as the missile flies on the line of sight.

Saab NLAW designer Christer Nygren said: “The protection on main battle tanks was increasing all the time...We saw that we needed a new type of attack.

But, with the over-the-top attack, you create another technical challenge, which is how to hit vertically down through the roof of the tank when the velocity of the missile is in the forward direction.

Before any contracts were signed we had to present a lot of technical evidence that we could really defeat a tank from the top and get the warhead [to detonate] at the right time.” Saab claims that in 20 years the US designers have not matched the NLAW system's technology.

Adding "You give them an hour of training and they can fight the T-90 [the most advanced Russian tank] without a problem.”[37] [38] The missile will auto-destruct at the maximum flight time of 5.6 seconds, which is about 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

[6] More NLAWs were requested by the Ukrainian military following reports that they proved highly effective against Russian vehicles, leading to at least 100 more being allocated by Luxembourg.

[42][43] Alongside US FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile systems, delivered as a precaution against increased hostilities, the Ukrainian forces reported that NLAWs produced far greater damage against Russian armoured vehicles than their standard Soviet-era equipment.

[12] On 24 March 2022, the UK pledged to deliver a further 6,000 NLAWs and a senior Ukrainian military officer also claimed they were the "weapon of choice" for his troops, responsible for 30–40% of Russian tanks destroyed.

[44] An unknown number of launchers were captured by the armed forces of Russia and the pro-Russian self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic during the conflict.