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The Neopup PAW-20 (Personal Assault Weapon, 20 mm) is a 20×42mm semi-automatic
grenade launcher A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially designed, large caliber projectile, often with an explosive, Smoke screen, smoke, or tear gas, gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary gre ...
designed by Tony Neophytou and as of 2015, is produced and marketed by Denel.


Overview

The PAW-20 is a hand-held, semi-automatic direct fire grenade launcher that fires a 20×42mm point-detonating round. It holds six rounds in a detachable rotary magazine, with an effective range of 300–400 meters. It was designed mainly as an anti-personnel grenade launcher for use against opposition closely grouped together or behind light cover. However, it is also compatible with less-than-lethal ammunition. The PAW-20 is in direct competition with the more complicated and expensive joint German-U.S. XM25 CDTE and Korean S&T Daewoo K11. The PAW-20 has attracted some criticism due to the location of the ejection port. On slow motion footage it can be seen that ejection happens after the hydraulic buffer is fully contracted, which brings the ejection port right to shooters face. Due to the unique location of the pistol grip on the side of the weapon, it can be fired from the left shoulder for a right-handed operator by simply placing the butt on the left shoulder, with no hand swapping necessary. This allows the user the advantage of being able to fire from around or under cover, with little time required to change the grip on the weapon. The right-handed location of the pistol grip also allows the weapon to recoil unimpeded into the shoulder of the operator, allowing for a much more manageable recoil than most weapons of this class. Moreover, the weapon uses the recoil to operate, instead of more traditional gas operated systems and is an interesting example of an inertial operated weapon.


20x42 mm cartridge

Developed from the
20×82mm The 20×82mm (sometimes 20×82mm Mauser) is a German 20 mm caliber Cartridge (firearms), cartridge developed during World War II for the MG 151/20 cannon. It continues to see usage today with the South-African Vektor GA-1 autocannon and Denel NTW ...
(
MG 151/20 The ''Maschinengewehr'' (MG) 151 is a belt-fed autocannon for aircraft use, developed in Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1940 and produced by Waffenfabrik Mauser during World War II. It was originally produced in 15.1 mm caliber from 1940, with a ...
cartridge), the 20×42 mm cartridge was specifically developed for the PAW-20 by Denel PMP, decreasing the overall weight and size of the weapon, and enabling it to hold more rounds in the magazine, compared to weapons of similar purpose and design, such as the XM25 CDTE, which typically fire 25mm or larger grenades. It has a muzzle velocity of 310 m/s (1,000 ft/s), and a much flatter trajectory than the more common 40 mm grenade launcher round. A number of less-than-lethal rounds are also available for the PAW-20.


Users

* ** – Peshmerga


See also

* * * * * * * * Raufoss Mk 211


References


Further reading


The Neopup Is Back, And In Production
(''The Firearm Blog'')


External links

{{confusing, date=November 2014
Modern Firearms

Forgotten Weapons - Video about this Grenade Launcher

Forgotten Weapons - Interview with the Designer
1999 introductions Grenade launchers Anti-materiel rifles Grenade launchers of South Africa Military equipment introduced in the 2010s