#AutomaticGrenadeLauncher

Ukrainian state-owned defense corporation UkrOboronProm has announced that a local munitions manufacturing company called “ Impulse” in cooperation with another domestic defense corporation called “ Kuznya on Rybalsky” will start the mass production of NATO standard high velocity 40x53mm grenades. These grenades are used in automatic grenade launchers such as the US Mk 19.

In an interview given to INTERFAX news agency, Vladimir Lepin, the CEO of Russian “Techmash” Concern, told about the current status of the 40mm AGS-40 “Balkan” automatic grenade launcher. Acording to Lepin, the AGS-40 is being extensively tested in their army since 2017. Right now they are making the final design changes, particularly to improve the night vision scope, disintegrating belt, loading machine and other minor elements of the system. They are planning to finish the testing and adopt the AGS-40 “Balkan” by the end of 2018.

Norwegian ammunition company Nammo has come up with a solution to the anti-drone predicament. The company’s answer is to develop 40x53mm high-velocity grenades using programmable components that allow soldiers to lase the distance to an enemy UAV, transmit that data into the grenade, which then programs that grenade to airburst at that particular altitude. Using bursts to maximize the effectiveness of the explosions around a drone, the likelihood of taking it out of commission can increase, given an accurate distance program is used.

How much firepower can you hold in your hands? Quite a lot, according to Kiev-based Precision Systems, who has developed a handheld automatic 30mm grenade launcher capable of dispensing five 30x29mm grenades quickly when used by just a single individual. News of this assault-rifle-sized automatic grenade gun was first published in the Anglosphere by ISH Jane’s:

I recently did a TFB write-up on the inner working of the Chinese QBZ-95 bullpup. That piece plus my RS Regulate AK optic mounts and the new QBZ-95 optic articles got translated into Chinese and posted in some Mainland website as soon as they were up on TFB. That site didn’t bother to even put a link-back to the original TFB articles, but at least they acknowledged me as the author.