An automatic grenade launcher (AGL) or grenade machine gun is a

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 ...

that is capable of fully automatic fire, and is typically loaded with either an ammunition belt or

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

. These weapons are often mounted on vehicles or helicopters, as when these weapons are moved by infantry the weapon, its tripod, and ammunition, are a heavy load, requiring a small team. Other types of grenade launchers are typically much lighter and can easily be carried by just a single soldier. The Mark 19 Automatic Grenade Launcher, first fielded by the United States in 1966, and still widely used today, weighs 62.5 kg (137.58 lb) when attached to its tripod, and loaded with a box of ammunition. For comparison, the single-shot

M79 grenade launcher The M79 grenade launcher is a single-shot, shoulder-fired, break-action grenade launcher that fires a 40 mm grenade, 40×46mm grenade, which uses what the US Army calls the High-Low System, High-Low Propulsion System to keep recoil forces low, and ...

weighs 2.93 kg (6.45 lb). Regardless of their weight, AGLs are still highly effective, and the Mark 19 is capable of

indirect fire Indirect fire is aiming and firing a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming is performed by calculating azimuth and inclination, and may include correcting ...

up to 2,200 metres, a role traditionally reserved for

mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...

. Even though the round carries less explosive than a 60mm mortar shell, this is thought to be counterbalanced by its much higher volume of fire. The most popular caliber for automatic grenade launchers in Western nations has been 40mm. The

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

successfully fielded a 30mm grenade launcher, the AGS-17, during its war in Afghanistan. In 2002,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

introduced a successor weapon, the AGS-30, and in 2017, the

AGS-40 Balkan AGS‑40 Balkan is a Russian 40 mm caseless automatic grenade launcher and successor to AGS-17 and AGS-30, introduced and adopted by the Russian military. Design The AGS-40 uses 40 mm CL ( caseless) grenades with a range of 2,500 m ...

. Traditional munitions for automatic grenade launchers include

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

, fragmentation, and shaped charge for attacking light armored vehicles.https://www.defenceweb.co.za/land/land-land/milkor-uae-unveils-automatic-grenade-launcher-at-idex-2021/ Less lethal rounds, like tear gas and sponge grenades for crowd control, have also been made. In the 21st century, AGLs have been made with integrated sight/range systems which can set a fused round to detonate precisely on, above, or behind a designated target. Different weapons use different methods of operation, with blowback and long recoil being two common choices. In all these weapons, the energy released by firing a round loads the next round into the weapon's breech. The Mark 19 is automatically reloaded through the blowback method, where expanding gases blow back the firing bolt. In the long recoil method the bolt is fixed to the firing chamber, and the whole firing chamber is blown back. These weapons are slightly less accurate, but weigh less than blowback weapons.

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

manufactures a long recoil weapon, the Mark 47 Automatic Grenade Launcher, as does the Spanish firm Santa Bárbara. The LAG-40 manufactured by Santa Bárbara has a relatively low rate of fire of 215 rounds per minute.

Comparison

Ammunition

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news , url = http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+new+generation+of+AGLs%3A+within+only+a+few+decades+the+Automatic...-a086195789 , title = A new generation of AGLs , publisher = Armada International , date = 2002-04-01 , access-date = 2015-03-09 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110430050116/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+new+generation+of+AGLs%3A+within+only+a+few+decades+the+Automatic...-a086195789 , archive-date = 2011-04-30 , url-status = live {{cite news , url = http://www.casr.ca/doc-npp-casw-agl.htm , title = CASW (Close Area Suppression Weapon System) Automatic Grenade Launcher — MERX Notice of Proposed Procurement , publisher = Canadian American Strategic Review , date = August 2009 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090605221412/http://www.casr.ca/bg-casw.htm , archive-date = 2009-06-05 , access-date = 2015-03-09 , url-status = live {{cite news , url = http://casr.ca/bg-casw2.htm , title = Background – CASW Project – Company Area Suppression Weapon , publisher = Canadian American Strategic Review , date = December 2008 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090808073348/http://casr.ca/bg-casw2.htm , archive-date = 2009-08-08 , access-date = 2015-03-09 , url-status = live , quote = In its current form, the Mk19 mod 3, this AGL has become the weapon of choice among US ground troops in Iraq – primarily because the AGL offers both direct (to 1,600 meters) and indirect fire (to 2,200 meters). {{cite book , author=Spencer C. Tucker , title=The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qh5lffww-KsC&pg=PA431 , date=20 May 2011 , publisher=ABC-CLIO , isbn=978-1-85109-961-0 , page=431 , access-date=17 October 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517145920/https://books.google.com/books?id=qh5lffww-KsC&pg=PA431 , archive-date=17 May 2016 , url-status=live {{cite book , title=Us Future Combat & Weapon Systems Handbook , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lPmVrgeVoI0C&pg=PA265 , date=30 March 2009 , publisher=International Business Publications , isbn=978-1-4387-5447-5 , page=265 , access-date=17 October 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604005616/https://books.google.com/books?id=lPmVrgeVoI0C&pg=PA265 , archive-date=4 June 2016 , url-status=live {{cite book , author=Dennis J. Blasko , title=The Chinese Army Today: Tradition and Transformation for the 21st Century , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G1SauJF3GqwC&pg=PA168 , date=17 June 2013 , publisher=

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, isbn=978-1-136-51997-0 , page=168 , access-date=17 October 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519120333/https://books.google.com/books?id=G1SauJF3GqwC&pg=PA168 , archive-date=19 May 2016 , url-status=live {{cite news , url = http://casr.ca/bg-casw2.htm , title = Background — CASW Candidates Operating Systems – Long Recoil , publisher = Canadian American Strategic Review , date = December 2008 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090808073348/http://casr.ca/bg-casw2.htm , archive-date = 2009-08-08 , access-date = 2015-03-09 , url-status = live , quote = The long recoil operating system’s obvious advantage is the compact gun body. While this compensates for the weapon’s internal complications, that moving barrel might also result in first-round aiming inaccuracies. The AGL designers are willing to overlook this in exchange for reduced weight (in comparison to a blowback design) and for the portability inherent in a smaller weapon (even if weight reduction is modest). In any case, great accuracy is not the forte of the AGLs. * Machine guns

Automatic grenade launchers An automatic grenade launcher (AGL) or grenade machine gun is a grenade launcher that is capable of fully automatic fire, and is typically loaded with either an Belt (firearm), ammunition belt or Magazine (firearm), magazine. These weapons are oft ...

Crew served weapons

Comparison

Ammunition

See also

References