![M79 Grenade Launcher (7414625716)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/M79_Grenade_Launcher_%287414625716%29.jpg)
A grenade launcher is a
weapon
A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...
that fires a specially-designed large-caliber projectile, often with an
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 expl ...
,
smoke
Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product ...
or
gas
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated
firearm
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
s firing unitary grenade
cartridges. The most common type are man-portable, shoulder-fired weapons issued to individuals, although larger crew-served launchers are issued at higher levels of organisation by military forces.
Grenade launchers can either come in the form of standalone weapons (either single-shot or repeating) or attachments mounted to a parent firearm, usually a
rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
. Larger crew-served automatic grenade launchers such as the
Mk 19 are mounted on tripods or vehicles.
Some
armored fighting vehicles
An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by vehicle armour, armour, generally combining operational mobility with Offensive (military), offensive and defense (military), defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheele ...
also mount fixed arrays of short range, single-shot grenade launchers as a means of defense.
History
Early precursors
![Grenade launchers 1747 France](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Grenade_launchers_1747_France.jpg)
The earliest devices which could be referred to as grenade launchers were
slings, which could be used to throw early ''grenado'' fuse bombs. The ancestors of modern ballistic grenade launchers, however, were simplistic muzzle-loading devices using a stake-like body to mount a short, large-bore gun barrel into which an explosive or incendiary device could be inserted; these were later refined into shoulder-fired
blunderbuss
The blunderbuss is a firearm with a short, large caliber barrel which is flared at the muzzle and frequently throughout the entire bore, and used with shot and other projectiles of relevant quantity or caliber. The blunderbuss is commonly consid ...
-like firearms referred to as "
hand mortar
The hand mortar is a firearm and early predecessor of modern grenade launchers that was used in the late 17th century and 18th century to throw fused grenades. The action was similar to a flintlock, matchlock, or wheellock firearm (depending on ...
s". These weapons were not highly regarded due to their unreliability, requiring the user to ignite a fuse on the projectile before firing and with a substantial risk of the explosive failing to leave the barrel; attempts to ignite the fuse on firing using the gunpowder charge resulted in weapons that would often force the fuse into the grenade and make it explode in the barrel.
Hand grenade launchers
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
a number of novel crew-served launchers designed to increase the range of infantry
hand grenade
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...
s were developed, such as the
Sauterelle
The ''Arbalète sauterelle type A'', or simply ''Sauterelle'' (French for grasshopper), was a bomb-throwing crossbow used by French and British forces on the Western Front during World War I. It was designed to throw a hand grenade in a high traj ...
crossbow and
West Spring Gun and
Leach Trench Catapult devices. None were particularly effective, and such devices were ultimately replaced by light mortar systems like the
Stokes Mortar,
[ **Please note a wikilink to the article "Bombthrowers" in ]B1922 B19 or B-19 may refer to:
* B19 (New York City bus), serving Brooklyn
* Douglas XB-19, an experimental bomber aircraft
* Parvovirus B19, the virus that causes fifth disease
* Caro–Kann Defence ECO code in chess
* Patient B-19
* Boron-19 (B-19 or ...
is not available** while the task of increasing the range of infantry explosive projectiles was primarily taken by rifle grenades.
A late example of such a system was the Japanese
Type 91 grenade
The was an improved version of the Type 10 fragmentation hand grenade/rifle grenade of the Imperial Japanese Army. Although superseded as a hand-thrown weapon by the Type 97 by the start of World War II it was still used by units in the Second S ...
, which could be used as a thrown hand grenade, or fitted with adaptors to either be fired as a rifle grenade or used as a projectile by the
Type 89 grenade discharger
The , inaccurately and colloquially known as a knee mortar by Allied forces, is a Japanese grenade launcher or light mortar that was widely used in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It got the nickname the "knee mortar" because of an erroneo ...
, a light infantry mortar.
Rifle grenades
![M1 Garand rifgren-shooting line](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/M1_Garand_rifgren-shooting_line.jpg)
A new method of launching grenades was developed during the First World War and used throughout the Second World War. The principle was to use the soldier's standard rifle as an ersatz mortar, mounting a grenade (in many older cases an infantry hand grenade) fitted with a propelling charge, using an adaptor or socket on the weapon's muzzle or inside a mounted launching cup, and usually firing with the weapon's stock resting on the ground. For older rifle grenades, igniting the charge generally required loading the parent rifle with a special blank propellant cartridge, though modern rifle grenades can be fired using live rounds using "bullet trap" and "shoot through" systems.
The system has some advantages: since it does not have to fit in a weapon's breech, the warhead can be made larger and more powerful compared to that of a unitary grenade round, and the rifle's weight and handling characteristics are not affected as with underbarrel systems unless a grenade is actually mounted. While older systems required the soldier carry a separate adaptor or cup to attach to the rifle to make it ready to launch (such as the German
Schiessbecher
The Schiessbecher (alternatively: ''Schießbecher'') - literally "shooting cup" - was a German grenade launcher of World War II.
A ''Gewehrgranatgerät'' ("rifle grenade device") based on rifle grenade launcher models designed during World War ...
), later rifle grenades were often designed to attach to the standard factory-mounted
flash hider
A flash suppressor, also known as a flash guard, flash eliminator, flash hider, or flash cone, is a muzzle device attached to the muzzle of a rifle that reduces its visible signature while firing by cooling or dispersing the burning gases that ...
of the parent rifle; for example, the NATO-standardised
22mm rifle grenade can be mounted to most post-WW2 Western military rifles without the need for an adaptor.
The disadvantage of this method is that when a soldier wants to launch a grenade, they must mount the grenade to the muzzle prior to each shot. If they are surprised by a close-range threat while preparing to fire the grenade, they have to reverse the procedure before they can respond with rifle fire. Due to the lack of a barrel, rifle grenades also tend to be more difficult to fire accurately compared to underbarrel or standalone designs.
Prior to the development of lightweight disposable anti-tank weapons such as the
M72 LAW
The M72 LAW (light anti-tank weapon, also referred to as the light anti-armor weapon or LAW as well as LAWS: light anti-armor weapons system) is a portable one-shot unguided anti-tank weapon. The solid rocket propulsion unit was developed in th ...
, large rifle grenades such as the
ENERGA anti-tank rifle grenade
The Energa anti-tank rifle grenade is a rifle-launched anti-tank grenade that is propelled by a ballistite-filled blank cartridge. The name ''Energa'' comes from the firm in Liechtenstein that designed it, the ''Anstalt für die ENtwicklung von ER ...
were the preferred method for allowing infantry who were not part of dedicated anti-tank teams to engage vehicles. Rifle grenades have largely fallen out of favor since the 1970s, replaced in most of their traditional roles by dedicated grenade launchers, though there has been a recent resurgence in interest in such devices for special purposes.
Types
Standalone
![Gas gun](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Gas_gun.JPG)
The earliest examples of standalone grenade launchers in the modern sense were breech-loading
riot gun
In current usage, a riot gun or less-lethal launcher is a type of firearm used to fire "non-lethal" or "less-lethal" ammunition for the purpose of suppressing riots or apprehending suspects with minimal harm or risk. Less-lethal launchers may ...
s designed to launch
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...
grenades and
baton round
Baton rounds, also known as kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs), are a less lethal alternative to traditional bullets. Baton rounds are designed to impact rather than to penetrate and are typically used for riot control.
Common types of baton round ...
s, such as the
Federal Riot Gun
The Federal Riot Gun (FRG) is a firearm made by Federal Laboratories Inc., designed to fire non-lethal munitions. Its ammunition includes 37 and 38mm baton and tear gas rounds. The baton rounds were cylindrical, rubber projectiles.
The most pop ...
developed in the 1930s. One of the first examples of a dedicated breech-loading launcher for unitary explosive grenade rounds was the
M79 grenade launcher
The M79 grenade launcher is a single-shot, shoulder-fired, break-action grenade launcher that fires a 40×46mm grenade, which uses what the US Army calls the High-Low Propulsion System to keep recoil forces low, and first appeared during the V ...
, a result of the American
Special Purpose Individual Weapon
The Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) was a long-running United States Army program to develop, in part, a workable flechette-firing "rifle", though other concepts were also involved. The concepts continued to be tested under the Future Ri ...
program (specifically the 40×46mm grenade round developed during
Project NIBLICK
The Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) was a long-running United States Army program to develop, in part, a workable flechette-firing "rifle", though other concepts were also involved. The concepts continued to be tested under the Future R ...
, applying the German-developed
high–low system The high–low system (or high–low pressure system, high–low propulsion system, high–low projection system) is a design of cannon and anti-tank warfare launcher using a smaller high-pressure chamber to store propellant. It allows a much larger ...
to produce manageable recoil). The goal for the M79 was the production of a device with greater range than a
rifle grenade
A rifle grenade is a grenade that uses a rifle-based launcher to permit a longer effective range than would be possible if the grenade were thrown by hand.
The practice of projecting grenades with rifle-mounted launchers was first widely used du ...
but more portable than a
mortar.
Such single-shot devices were largely replaced in military service with underbarrel grenade launchers, removing the need for a dedicated grenadier with a special weapon. Many modern underbarrel grenade launchers can, however, also be used in standalone configurations with suitable accessories fitted; this is of particular preference for groups using
submachine guns
A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an automati ...
as their primary armament, since it is rarely practical to mount an underbarrel launcher on such a weapon. Single shot launchers are also still commonly used in
riot control
Riot control measures are used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful demonstration or unlawful protest.
If a riot is spontaneous and irration ...
operations.
Heavier multi-shot grenade launchers like the
ARWEN 37
The ARWEN 37 is a less-lethal launcher which fires a variety of 37mm less-lethal munitions which includes direct impact batons, chemical irritant delivery munitions and smoke delivery munitions. The ARWEN 37 has 5-round rotary drum magazine.
His ...
are used as
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...
and smoke projectors in riot control, while military launchers like the
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 ...
are used to provide heavy sustained firepower to infantry; most such devices, dating back to the
Manville machine-projector, use a revolver-style cylinder, though a handful of pump-action weapons built like oversized shotguns, such as the
China Lake grenade launcher and
GM-94
The GM-94 is a pump action grenade launcher developed by the KBP design bureau for use by Russian special and security forces.
Description
The GM-94 is a short range weapon, allowing it to be used in close urban environments. With a minimum saf ...
, also exist. Magazine-fed semi-automatic designs such as the
Neopup PAW-20
The Neopup PAW-20 (''Personal Assault Weapon, 20 mm'') is a 20 mm caliber, 20×42mm semi-automatic firearm, semi-automatic grenade launcher designed by Tony Neophytou and as of 2015, is produced and marketed by Denel.
Overview
The PAW-20 ...
and
XM25 CDTE
The XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement (CDTE) System, also known as the Punisher and Individual Semiautomatic Air Burst System was an airburst grenade launcher with programmable ammunition derived from the XM29 OICW. It was fielded to sol ...
have also been created for military use, using smaller rounds (respectively 20 and 25mm) for purposes of practicality in terms of the size of the magazine, and reduced collateral damage compared to 40mm rounds.
Attached
![Loading M203 40 mm grenade launcher attached to an M16 rifle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Loading_M203_40_mm_grenade_launcher_attached_to_an_M16_rifle.jpg)
Since grenade launchers require relatively low internal pressure and only a short barrel, a lightweight launcher can be mounted under the barrel of a traditional
rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
; this type of device is referred to as an under-barrel grenade launcher (UBGL). This reduces the weight the soldier must carry by eliminating the grenade launcher's buttstock and makes the grenade launcher available for use at a moment's notice. Underbarrel 40mm grenade launchers generally have their own trigger group; to fire, one simply changes grips, disengages the safety, and pulls the trigger. In Western systems, the barrel slides forward or pivots to the side to allow reloading; most fire a
40×46mm grenade cartridge.
Soviet/Russian launchers are instead loaded from the muzzle, with the cartridge casing affixed to the projectile in the style of a mortar shell. For aiming, underbarrel grenade launchers typically use a separate ladder, leaf, tangent or quadrant sight attached to the launcher or the rifle, either to one side of the handguard or on top of the handguard in between the iron sights. Modern launchers often have the option of mounting more sophisticated aiming systems, such as ballistic rangefinders and day / night sights.
As with the M79, the concept of mounting a dedicated grenade launcher to a service rifle has its roots in the
Special Purpose Individual Weapon
The Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) was a long-running United States Army program to develop, in part, a workable flechette-firing "rifle", though other concepts were also involved. The concepts continued to be tested under the Future Ri ...
program; though the experimental Colt
XM148 grenade launcher
The XM148 was an experimental 40 mm grenade launcher developed by Colt Firearms as the CGL-4 (Colt Grenade Launcher). Colt manufactured the launcher for field testing during the Vietnam era. After problems with the experimental design were discov ...
had been produced earlier, it had proved too problematic to adopt. One AAI submission for SPIW mounted a "simple" single-action, single-shot breech-loading underbarrel grenade launcher in lieu of the required semi-automatic multi-shot device. With refinement, this was adopted as 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 ...
in 1968. A variety of lengths of M203 are available along with numerous parts kits to fit it to various rifles aside from the AR15 pattern weapons it was designed for.
More modern Western grenade launchers address some of the shortcomings of the M203, such as the sliding breech limiting the weapon's ability to load outsize projectiles and the lack of factory-fitted sight mounts, with designs like
FN Herstal
Fabrique Nationale Herstal (), trading as FN Herstal and often referred to as Fabrique Nationale or simply FN, is a leading firearms manufacturer based in Herstal, Belgium. It is currently the largest exporter of military small arms in Europe.
F ...
's
ELGM and
Heckler & Koch
Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK; ) is a German defense manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also ...
's
AG36
The AG36 is a single-shot 40 mm grenade launcher that operates on the high-low system and was designed primarily for installation on the G36 assault rifle, designed by the German weapons manufacturing company Heckler & Koch of Oberndorf am Neck ...
featuring a swing-out breech to provide better access, integral sight mounts, and built-in support for standalone conversion. A variant of the latter weapon, the
M320 Grenade Launcher Module
M320 Grenade Launcher Module (GLM) is the U.S. military's designation for a new single-shot 40 mm grenade launcher system to replace the M203 for the U.S. Army, while other services initially kept using the older M203. The M320 uses the same ...
, was salvaged from the failed
XM8
The Heckler & Koch XM8 is a lightweight assault rifle system developed from the late 1990s to early 2000s. The rifle was designed by German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K), and shares design and engineering with their G36 rifle.
T ...
program and adopted in 2008 as the US military's replacement for the M203.
Soviet development of an underbarrel launcher for the AK rifle series began in 1966 and in 1978 produced 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 ...
, a muzzle-loading device for the
AK-74
The AK-74 (Russian: , tr. ''Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974 goda'', lit. 'Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974) is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974. While primarily associated with the Soviet U ...
rifle using a mortar-like grenade round which functions by venting its propellant through holes in the base; this is a variation of the high-low system used by Western rounds, with the base of the projectile acting as the high-pressure chamber and the launcher's barrel acting as the low-pressure chamber. Further developments led to the
GP series of grenade launchers.
A number of experimental weapon systems have attempted to produce combination weapons which consist of a permanently attached grenade launcher and a carbine assault rifle, often with the rifle mounted underneath the launcher, most notably the
XM29 OICW
The XM29 OICW (''Objective Individual Combat Weapon'') was a series of prototypes of a new type of assault rifle that fired 20 mm HE airbursting projectiles. The prototypes were developed as part of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon p ...
, but so far the only such weapon to reach full production is the
S&T Daewoo K11
The S&T Daewoo K11 DAW (Dual-barrel Air-burst Weapon) is a multi-weapon resembling the earlier US Objective Individual Combat Weapon in concept, design and operation. It consists of two separate weapons combined into a single unit: a lower assaul ...
, adopted in limited numbers by the South Korean military.
Automatic
![MK19-02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/MK19-02.jpg)
An ''automatic grenade launcher'' or ''grenade machine gun''
[N. R. Jenzen-Jones, Jonathan Ferguson, Graeme Rice]
''Research Notes, Weapons & Markets - Automatic Grenade Launchers''
, Small Arms Survey, February 2015 is a crew-served support weapon which fires explosive rounds in quick succession from an
ammunition belt
upright=1.35, An M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, aboard a U.S. Navy">7.62×51mm_NATO.html" ;"title="M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO">M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, aboar ...
or large-capacity
magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
. As most are heavy weapons, they are normally attached to a
tripod
A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...
or vehicle mounting, and as well as being used to provide heavy suppressing fire in the manner of a
heavy machine gun
A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light machine gun, light, medium machine gun, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require weapon mount, mountin ...
, also have sufficient firepower to destroy vehicles and buildings. Examples include the
Mk 19,
AGS-17
The AGS-17 Plamya (Russian: Пламя; ''Flame'') is a Soviet-designed automatic grenade launcher in service worldwide.
Description
The AGS-17 is a heavy infantry support weapon designed to operate from a tripod or mounted on an installation or ...
, and the
HK GMG
The GMG (''Granatmaschinengewehr'' or "grenade machine gun") is an automatic grenade launcher developed by Heckler & Koch for the German Army. It is also often referred to as GMW or GraMaWa (''Granatmaschinenwaffe'').
Design details
The GMG f ...
.
Automatic grenade launchers generally use a higher-velocity round than infantry weapons; NATO launchers use a 40×53mm grenade round rather than the 40×46mm round used by infantry. There are exceptions to this rule: the crank-operated
Mk 18 Mod 0 grenade launcher
A Mk 18 grenade launcher in use on a M2 Browning machine guns) ">M2_Browning.html" ;"title="Patrol Craft Fast (on top of the dual .50 M2 Browning">M2 Browning machine guns)
The Mk 18 Mod 0 was a 40x46mm grenade launcher used by the United State ...
, a unique example of an AGL which was not fully automatic,
and the
Mk 20 Mod 0 grenade launcher
The Mk 20 Mod 0 was a 40mm automatic grenade launcher manufactured by NOS Louisville which was used by the US Navy during the Vietnam War. It used a blow-forward mechanism that was previously used on semi-automatic pistols such as the Steyr Mannlic ...
both used the 40×46mm round, and the Chinese
Type 87 grenade launcher
The QLZ-87 (also known as Type 87) 35 mm automatic grenade launcher (AGL) is an air-cooled, gas operated fully automatic weapon and is crew transportable (12~20 kg) with limited amounts of ammunition. Unusual for handheld grenade la ...
, a device intended to be employed like a
general-purpose machine gun
A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for v ...
, uses the same 35×32mm low-velocity grenade round as the
QLG91B underbarrel launcher for the
QBZ-95
The Type 95 automatic rifle () or QBZ-95 is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured by Norinco, and issued since 1995 as the service rifle for the People's Liberation Army, People's Armed Police and various paramilitary law enforcemen ...
assault rifle.
Fixed arrays
![Gepard 1a2 nebelw](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Gepard_1a2_nebelw.jpg)
Some
armored fighting vehicles
An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by vehicle armour, armour, generally combining operational mobility with Offensive (military), offensive and defense (military), defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheele ...
also mount fixed arrays of short range, single-shot grenade launchers as a means of defense. These devices usually fire smoke grenades to conceal the vehicle behind a
smoke screen
A smoke screen is smoke released to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, or ships.
Smoke screens are commonly deployed either by a canister (such as a grenade) or generated by a vehicle (such as ...
, though can also be loaded with
chaff
Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agri ...
,
flares
A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, o ...
, or
anti-personnel
An anti-personnel weapon is a weapon primarily used to maim or kill infantry and other personnel not behind armor, as opposed to attacking structures or vehicles, or hunting game. The development of defensive fortification and combat vehicles ga ...
grenades to repel
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...
attacks. Vehicle-mounted smoke grenade launchers are also known as ''smoke dischargers''.
Ammunition
![XM25 July 2009](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/XM25_July_2009.jpg)
Most grenade launchers are flexible in terms of the types of ammunition they can employ. In military use, the primary ammunition type for a grenade launcher is fragmentation rounds, with the most common grenade round in use by NATO the
40 mm fragmentation grenade, which is effective against a wide range of targets, including infantry and lightly armored vehicles.
The large size of the grenade projectile relative to a bullet also allows for payloads requiring a substantial mass of chemicals, such as flares, incendiary rounds, gas grenades and smoke grenades.
[Gary W. Cooke]
"40mm Low-Velocity Grenades"
''Gary's U.S. Infantry Weapons Reference Guide'' Law enforcement users generally employ grenade launchers in riot control operations to project obscuring smoke or
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...
;
less-lethal
Non-lethal weapons, also called nonlethal weapons, less-lethal weapons, less-than-lethal weapons, non-deadly weapons, compliance weapons, or pain-inducing weapons are weapons intended to be less likely to kill a living target than conventional ...
crowd control munitions such as baton and sponge rounds also exist for such use.
Lethal rounds are usually fitted with an inertial fuzing system which arms the warhead after it has rotated a set number of times, in order to prevent the user from harming themselves if a grenade encounters a nearby obstruction.
Western launchers are primarily either the
37 mm flare 37 mm flare or "1.5 inch" caliber is the specification for a common launching system for non-lethal and less-lethal ammunition. Such launchers are also often known as "gas guns" due to their original use by police for launching tear gas projec ...
caliber intended for civilian and law enforcement use, or the larger military 40 mm caliber. This is intended to prevent civilian-legal flare projectors being used to fire lethal military ammunition, since lethal rounds are not manufactured in 37mm caliber. The reverse is not true; a full range of less-lethal ammunition is available in 40 mm caliber, and an increasing number of law enforcement launchers not intended for the civilian market are chambered for 40×46mm rounds.
Recently militaries have paid great attention to the development of
"smart" grenade systems with integrated sighting systems, which can be used as point-detonating rounds as normal, or fuzed to detonate in mid-air at a preset distance to engage targets in cover with their fragments. This ammunition was first developed as High Explosive Air Burst (HEAB) as part of the Small Arms Master Plan (SAMP) projects: the
Objective Individual Combat Weapon
The Objective Individual Combat Weapon or OICW was the next-generation service rifle competition that was under development as part of the United States Army OICW program; the program was eventually discontinued without bringing the weapon out of ...
(20×28mm and
25×40mm low-velocity) and
Advanced Crew Served Weapon (25×59mm high-velocity) projects. The low-velocity round was to have been used by the
XM25 CDTE
The XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement (CDTE) System, also known as the Punisher and Individual Semiautomatic Air Burst System was an airburst grenade launcher with programmable ammunition derived from the XM29 OICW. It was fielded to sol ...
. Following the failure of the SAMP weapon programs, the United States developed 40mm grenades incorporating similar technology, including the 40×53mm MK285 Programmable Prefragmented High Explosive/Self-Destructible (PPHE/SD) round for the
Mk 47 Striker
The Mk 47 or Striker 40 is a 40mm automatic grenade launcher with an integrated fire control system, capable of launching smart programmable 40mm air burst grenades in addition to various unguided rounds.
Design
The Mk 47 has the latest sensin ...
AGL and more recently the
SAGM round for 40×46mm underbarrel launchers, an airburst-only computerized grenade which does not require an integrated sighting system. Other countries have also produced grenades using similar technology, including South Korea for the
S&T Daewoo K11
The S&T Daewoo K11 DAW (Dual-barrel Air-burst Weapon) is a multi-weapon resembling the earlier US Objective Individual Combat Weapon in concept, design and operation. It consists of two separate weapons combined into a single unit: a lower assaul ...
, Australia during the
Advanced Individual Combat Weapon
The Advanced Individual Combat Weapon (AICW) was an Australian prototype combination assault rifle and grenade launcher developed as a technology demonstrator. The AICW combined a standard 5.56 mm assault rifle based on the successful F88 A ...
program, and China for the
ZH-05 grenade launcher module.
Legality
United States
In the US, under the
National Firearms Act
The National Firearms Act (NFA), 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, was enacted on June 26, 1934, and currently codified and amended as . The law is an Act of Congress in the United States that, in general, imposes an excise tax on the manufact ...
of 1934, breech-loading firearms with a barrel diameter of greater than .50 inches and no practical sporting use are classified as Title II "
destructive device
In the United States, a destructive device is a type of firearm or explosive device regulated by the National Firearms Act of 1934, revised by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and Gun Control Act of 1968.
Examples of destruct ...
s", with ownership heavily restricted and banned entirely in some states; in addition, each individual round of explosive ammunition for a grenade launcher is ''also'' classified as a destructive device and subject to the same restrictions. The state of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
additionally considers rifles with integral rifle grenade launching devices as destructive devices in accordance with the definition of such in section 16460 of the
California Penal Code
The Penal Code of California forms the basis for the application of most criminal law, criminal procedure, penal institutions, and the execution of sentences, among other things, in the American state of California. It was originally enacted ...
. However, it is legal for civilians to own 37mm flare launchers which are not regulated as firearms some of which are designed to have a cosmetic appearance similar to a grenade launcher and certain types of ammunition, as the
BATFE
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevent ...
has ruled that unless such devices are possessed along with direct-fire ammunition such as pellet or
beanbag round
A bean bag round, also known by its trademarked name flexible baton round, is a type of baton round, fired from a shotgun, and used for less lethal apprehension of suspects.
Description
The bean bag round consists of a small fabric "pillow" fi ...
s, they are not destructive devices. One result of this is that in American film productions, visually similar 37mm launchers are often substituted for 40mm weapons.
A "grenade launcher" or "grenade launcher mount" is usually included in the list of features defining an "
assault weapon
In the United States, ''assault weapon'' is a controversial term used to define firearms with specified characteristics. The definition varies among regulating jurisdictions, but usually includes semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magaz ...
", though this is a legal definition which primarily affects firearms with flash hiders compatible with rifle grenades, since firearms that are designed specifically for launching explosive grenade rounds and their ammunition are already federally restricted as destructive devices. Several state assault weapon bans extend this to include under-barrel 37mm flare launchers on the list of banned features.
Maryland CR § 4-301(e)
, General Assembly of Maryland
See also
* Comparison of automatic grenade launchers An automatic grenade launcher (AGL) or grenade machine gun is a grenade launcher that is capable of fully automatic fire, and is typically loaded with either an Belt (firearm), ammunition belt or Magazine (firearm), magazine.
These weapons are ofte ...
* List of grenade launchers
This article lists all forms of grenade launchers around the world, that is to say weapons that launch grenades with more accuracy, a higher velocity and to greater distances than a soldier could.''Small Arms Illustrated'', 2010
Below is the l ...
* Recoilless rifle
A recoilless rifle, recoilless launcher or recoilless gun, sometimes abbreviated "RR" or "RCL" (for ReCoilLess) is a type of lightweight artillery system or man-portable launcher that is designed to eject some form of countermass such as propel ...
* Anti-materiel rifle
An anti-materiel rifle (AMR) is a rifle designed for use against military equipment, structures, and other hardware (materiel). Anti-materiel rifles are chambered in significantly larger calibers than conventional rifles and are employed to elimin ...
* Rocket-propelled grenade
A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are a ...
* Flare gun
A flare gun, also known as a Very pistol or signal pistol, is a large-bore handgun that discharges flares, blanks and smoke. The flare gun is typically used to produce a distress signal.
Types
The most common type of flare gun is a Very (som ...
References
External links
{{commons category, Grenade launchers
Modern Firearms & Ammunition grenade launcher intro
Explosive weapons
Grenade launchers
Launcher