#40mm

The Turkish firearm component manufacturing company MERTSAV Defense has recently unveiled an under barrel 40x46mm Low-Velocity grenade launcher, as revealed by posts on Pakistan Defense forum. The launcher utilizes an M1913 Picatinny rail attachment system to marry to the 6 o’clock rail on any rifle so equipped. We don’t know too much about the system, but from the single photograph online it appears that the barrel is under at least 12 inches in length, swings to one side upon opening, has a manual safety positioned just being the base of the 40x46mm cartridge, has a full pistol grip with the barrel latching button inside it, and has a short Picatinny rail section positioned just ahead of the trigger guard and underneath the barrel, on the frame of the system. In the image shown, there is an attached forward grip on the launcher.

The Pakistani commercial firearms company Daudsons Armory or DSA is much more known for their handguns and historical reproduction shotguns sold in the United States through Cimarron. However, the company also has a 40x53mm High-Velocity Automatic Grenade Launcher (AGL) that they have been developing for over a decade at this point. Currently, the PAK-40 AGL is undergoing Pakistani Army trials that could potentially lead to replacing U.S. Mk.19s and MKEK designs that are being used now. Testing consisted of severe temperature firing in both cold and hot extremes in addition to accuracy testing at 500, 1000, and 1500 meters. The AGL was also sent to South Africa to be tested with RDM ammunition (jointly owned by South African and German companies), in addition to NATO standard and Korean 40mm linked grenades.

A US company called MATBOCK has released a new 40mm grenade launcher sight which automatically estimates the range of the grenade impact depending on the angle of the weapon system. The new sight is called ARD (Aquire Read Deploy).

The IWI 40x46mm Low-Velocity UBGL/Standalone Grenade Launcher has been around for a few years but this is the first time we were able to actually get our hands on the launcher at TFB. Available for LE/Military customers worldwide, the launcher is designed to lock onto the bayonet lug of the Tavor 5.56x45mm X95 rifle by way of two locking pins that keep it in place. At first glance, it appears to be similar to any other UBGL/GL design on the market but IWI really seemed to put a lot of effort into the finer points of detail on the launcher.

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.

At the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, Korean optics maker DI Optical was showing off many of their familiar products, but also had on display an interesting looking rifle attachment from a company called Jammer Korea. The attachment, named the “DRONE SNIPER”, is a familiar multi-frequency radio jammer, but in a slick underbarrel package that weighs much less than current standalone launchers.

Military and law enforcement organizations have an ongoing need for improved less lethal munitions to subdue violent people. The 37mm and 40mm launchers are one area that has seen improvement and innovation in recent years – both with the design of the launchers and with the munitions available. Defense Technology, a brand under the Safariland Group umbrella, announced a new 40mm munition that it believes is “highly effective” with “greater energy and delivered energy” than competing products.

At IPAS 2017, Iran’s Defense Industries Organization showcased various grenade launchers and anti-material rifles the state owned company is bringing to the Iranian (and possibly Iran’s allied customers) market. Displayed first is almost an exact copy of the South African Milkor M32 six cartridge semi-automatic 40x46mm grenade launcher.

It’s no secret that the field of war is changing, and that fact is just as true for the infantryman as it is the F-35 Lightning II pilot. Increasingly, small, inexpensive, expendable drones are being used as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets, as well as delivery platforms for light ordnance as well as kamikaze weapons. Today, the use of drones in this manner is in its infancy, but the next generation of purpose-built light combat drones is being designed and built right now. Israeli firms like Duke Robotics and UVision have already created armed and kamikaze (respectively) drone systems, and combatants in the Iraqi and Syrian Civil Wars famously used drones as delivery platforms for 40mm grenades. The use of civilian light drones as “snooping” devices has already spurred the development of anti-drone weapons for security forces, including both electromagnetic “rifles” that zap drones to take control of them, as well as more crude (but still effective) anti-drone shotgun payloads.

Nguyen Tan Dung is a Vietnamese defense website and posted about this graduated reflex sight that the Vietnamese Military Technical Academy has come up with to be paired with the 40x46mm low-velocity M79 single shot/ stand alone grenade launcher. Although the Vietnamese post was published in the summer of 2015, the innovation displayed here is too strong to be ignored and not shared. This article mentions that components of the sight are produced and assembled in Vietnam. It looks very similar to one of Hartman’s reflex sight designs and knowing that IWI and the Vietnamese government have a very close industrial relationship, I wouldn’t put it too far out that this is the case. The article wrote that although the sight is engineered for the M79 copy currently in use by Vietnamese troops, plans are being made to adjust it to the locally produced MGL copy of the Milknor design when that comes into service.

IDEF 2017 occurred in May of this year, but we missed this important Turkish development when it comes to ammunition. MKEK, the Turkish state-run armament company, and privately owned Aselsan signed agreements at IDEF 2017 to cooperate on the design and manufacture of “Smart” 40x46mm Low Velocity for use in UBGLs or stand alone launchers employed by the Turkish Military. The two companies have already worked together on a similar project, being the 35mm Anti-Aircraft using various technologies, most likely for different air burst capabilities. It would appear that MKEK will handle the manufacture, as it already manufactures standard 40x46mm munitions, and Aselsan will work on the actual electronics package, with the companies expertise in technology. What this “Smart” ammunition most likely entails is the ability to detonate a shell at a set distance from impact, thus denying an enemy the ability to hide behind cover. If this cooperation is successful, it will bring Turkey to the forefront within the MENA region with an advanced 40x46mm targeting capability, very rare throughout the world as well.

In an era of increasingly resilient body armor, new small arms ammunition solutions are required to even the odds between the shooter and shootee. The company Stiletto Systems, based out of the UK, is advertising its new bullet as a possible solution for this problem. The round, a relatively conventional 7.62mm tungsten cored armor piercing projectile superficially similar to Nammo’s M993 round, is advertised as having considerable penetrative power: 20.5 mm of rolled homogeneous armor at 100 meters, 100% of the time.

In the rush to augment the infantry’s firepower with new advanced small arms technologies, we may be on the precipice of crippling their ability to fight wars. The push to equip the infantryman with more powerful rifles and machine guns risks reducing his mobility to critical levels, and “locking out” his capacity to carry powerful supporting arms. Although more potent basic infantry weapons are undeniably desirable, current attitudes towards their purpose – exemplified by the concept of “overmatch” – may compound problems that already have reached crisis levels.

At the 2017 National Defense Industry Association’s (NDIA) annual Armament Systems Forum in April, Mr. Howard Kent of Armor Development Group, and Dr. Jeffery Widder presented a concept for a caseless grenade system which allows the user to aim by changing the muzzle velocity of the round itself. Their grenade design would allow a grenadier to fire on targets at varying ranges while maintaining the same firing angle as well as approximately the same impact angle.

At the 2017 National Defense Industry Association small arms conference in April, the US Army revealed its efforts to produce new improved varieties of 40mm low velocity ammunition for the M203 and M320 grenade launchers. Product Director for Medium Caliber Ammunition Christopher Seacord’s presentation at NDIA lists three new types of 40mm ammunition: XM1166 High Explosive Air Burst (HEAB), XM1167 Door Breach (DB), and XM1168 Short Range Anti-Personnel (SRAP):