Grenade launcher: see my "seventy-two changes"

Grenade launcher look at my "72 changes"

Domestic LG-5 type 40mm sniper grenade launcher in the China International Police Equipment Expo debut, it will attract countless eyes. This is known as the "sniper gun" of the "big guy" powerful, domineering shape, high accuracy, good portability.

Some people call the LG-5 a "newcomer" in the grenade launcher family. Because it's so hybrid and so stylish, it's a far cry from the original grenade launcher, both in form and function.

Turn the clock back to the early 1900s, when a prototype of the grenade launcher appeared during World War I - a grenade-throwing canister.

During the heavy artillery fire of World War II, infantrymen often struggled with the question of what to use when attacking small targets. With grenades, the accuracy is poor and the power is insufficient, while with mortars, the accuracy is effectively improved, but the power is too much, which is a waste of ammunition and also easy to cause accidental injury.

The German army began to try to add a folding stock on the 27mm flare gun, test against the shoulder to launch small fixed grenades. Since then, the traditional grenade launcher officially entered the battlefield.

The American solution to the problem contributed to the "U.S. program": in 1953, Springfield Arsenal developed the M79 type 40 mm grenade launcher. It looks like a rifle, also known as the "grenade gun". 7 years later, approved by the U.S. Department of the Army, the "grenade gun" formally mounted troops to become a grenade launcher family of "the old squad leader! The "grenade gun" was approved by the U.S. Department of the Army seven years later. From then on, the grenade launcher on the fast track of professional development.

With the end of the Cold War, grenade launchers are no longer a single "rifle" form, some of them can launch grenades alone, some of them appear in the form of attachments with the gun, and some need to be set up to launch. The "giant revolver" - MM-1 grenade launcher developed and produced by the U.S. Hawk Engineering Company is one of them. Its range is similar to the sub-machine gun, flexible operation, is the city counter-terrorism weapon.

In addition, the U.S. Army put two grenade machine guns into the Gulf War. In one battle, 1,600 Iraqi soldiers were captured. About one-sixth of them were wounded by grenade fragments fired from MK19-style grenade machine guns. The birth of the grenade machine gun greatly remedied the previous grenade launcher loading procedures complex, poor striking accuracy and other shortcomings.

With the development of science and technology, the importance of the air and sea battlefield has become increasingly prominent, grenade launcher opened the "slimming" mode, from the bulky machine gun type design to reduce weight, increase power and streamline the supporting direction of development.

The more typical is the "big change" AGL40 grenade launcher. Its "battle position" is almost ubiquitous, in trucks, armored vehicles, helicopters and even patrol boats can be launched.

From "rifle" to "giant pistol" to "skinny machine gun", looking back at the evolution of the grenade launcher can be accurately summarized in two words: changeable. The family continues to grow by virtue of new technologies and continues to explore new battlefields by virtue of its ability to change in 72 ways.

At the China Airshow, China's self-developed LG-6 grenade launcher was unveiled. It is lightweight and powerful, and can be used in mountain and jungle maneuvering operations, but also competent in urban street fighting and anti-terrorism and riot control tasks. The shoulder of the soldier is its strong "shield", the drone can also become its excellent "ride".