After the formation of the Bundeswehr in 1956, one task of all troop formations was "fighting armoured vehicles and tanks". The Bundeswehr at the time was equipped with the aging Panzerfaust 44 and the heavy Carl Gustaf 84 mm recoilless rifle. These infantry weapon systems equipped with an armour piercing shaped charge warhead would have fought not only tanks but also machine gun nests, anti-tank positions, bunkers or field positions, etc. in open terrain. However, during the 1970s, new conceptional and tactical considerations were made in order to balance the constantly progressing development in tank technology.