The FRAG-12 is a specialized

shotgun shell A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub- projectiles called shot, fired thro ...

which contains a small amount of

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

to breach intermediate barriers, defeat light vehicles, and disrupt

IEDs An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mecha ...

. The shell was designed by the Special Cartridge Company in London, England. Later its patent extended to Olympic Technologies Ltd in Gibraltar. The shell uses a long metal body filled with of composition A5. Four folding fins spring out after leaving the muzzle. The shell arms at and explodes on impact by MIL SPEC 1316

fuze In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze d ...

. It has a maximum range of . A company called Combined Systems, Inc. sells FRAG-12 under the name FRAG12HE. The rounds have low popularity due to relative high cost to performance ratio, limited application, and being limited to military only purchase. Sales seem to be limited because of the wide array of other available rounds for military users in more suitable calibers such as 20×30B K-11; 20×42B PAW 20; 25×40B XM25; 25×59B LW25; 30×29B VOG-17; 35mm CL DFS10; VOG-17, 35×32SR DF87, 40mm CL VOG-25M, 40×46SR LV, 40×53SR HV, 40mm CL Balkan, and calibers used by the

M203 grenade launcher The M203 is a single-shot 40 mm under-barrel grenade launcher designed to attach to a rifle. It uses the same rounds as the older stand-alone M79 break-action grenade launcher, which utilizes the high-low propulsion system to keep recoil force ...

Milkor MGL The Milkor MGL (Multiple Grenade Launcher) is a lightweight 40 mm six-shot revolver-type grenade launcher (variations also fire 37/38mm) developed and manufactured in South Africa by Milkor (Pty) Ltd. The MGL was demonstrated as a concept to the ...

GP-25 The GP-25 ''Kostyor'' ("Bonfire"), GP-30 ''Obuvka'' ("Footwear") and GP-34 are a family of Russian 40 mm under-barrel grenade launchers (''Granatomyot Podstvolnyj'') for the AK family of assault rifles. They were first seen by the West in ...

, and similar dedicated devices. The round was widely advertised with the

Atchisson AA-12 The AA-12 (Auto Assault-12), originally designed and known as the Atchisson Assault Shotgun, is an automatic combat shotgun developed in 1972 by Maxwell Atchisson (however, the original development by Atchisson seems to have produced only a few gu ...

assault shotgun.

References

# #{{cite web, url=https://www.frag12.com/home, title=FRAG12 | HIGH EXPLOSIVE (HE) | HOME, website=frag12.com, accessdate=2018-10-30 Explosive projectiles Military cartridges Shotgun shells