Defense Blog and a Polish defense website have published details about an automatic 40x53mm High Velocity grenade launcher that two Polish companies have been collaborating on, called the LGA-40. The overall intent is to offer an alternative to replace aging U.S. 40x53mm Mk.19 grenade launchers currently in service (since the early 2000s) with the Polish Armed Forces while being both lighter at 21 kilograms (a 14-kilogram difference) and with a higher rate of fire of 450 rounds per minute (an 80 RPM difference). The two companies producing the grenade launcher are the Polish Institute of Precision Mechanics (Instytut Mechaniki Precyzjnej), known for being a research and design firm, and the Jakusz company, specializing in such fields as ordnance and hazardous material. Unfortunately, the only photograph we have released to us thus far is the title one of the grenade launcher being mounted on a remote-controlled vehicle. This is really only an option for the weapon system, and not a true depiction of the platform by itself.

From the Polish article (Google Translated)-

Thanks to their cooperation with Jakusz of Kościerzyna, a Polish automatic grenade launcher has been created. The LGA-40 built by them passed fire tests and tests at one of the training grounds at the end of last year. Weapons were tested both on the stand and on the chassis of the little robot. “We decided that we wanted to develop a complementary fire system. So not only the grenade itself, but also the automatic platform on which it can move automatically when controlled by the computer, or manually, when all the activities correspond to the operator – explains Bogdan Jakusz, president of the Jakuszy carnival. New design tests were positive.

Replacing legacy systems is an important task, especially when working with such force multipliers as automatic grenade launchers. The weight reduction of this LGA-40 alone isn’t something to be scuffed at. However, I am curious to see exactly how the weight came down to this significant reduction. If it involved removing key safety features that were probably necessary in the Mk.19, then the weight could probably have been retained and the launcher just manufactured locally.