For all you DIY'ers out there, factor in MODULARITY into your next design and build.

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Army Testing Stackable Grenades for Infantry
by Matthew Cox on February 20, 2015



U.S. Army testers recently evaluated a new type of hand grenade that allows soldiers to connect up to three sections of explosive for a more powerful blast.

The Scalable Offensive Hand Grenade offers conventional soldiers a new capability. Unlike the standard fragmentation grenade, this design offers mainly a blast effect that can be doubled or tripled to suit the job. It has also been fielded to U.S. Special Operations Command since 2010.

Army officials tested it during a recent live-fire portion of the service’s annual Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment at the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Ga.



The base grenade has a non-removable, 3.5 second fuse and a body encasing .25 pounds of high explosive. Two separate modules of the same potency can be quickly connected to provide one, simultaneous explosion.

The blast completely collapsed a one-room, adobe-style structure, said Harry Lubin, chief of the Experimentation Branch of MCOE’s Maneuver Battle Lab.

“It really has a devastating effect,” he said.

It’s too early to tell if the Army will adopt the new grenade system, but the results of the live-fire assessment will be available to Army officials who write future lethality requirements, Lubin said.

This was the first year a live-fire portion was added to AEWE. It gave Benning officials the chance to evaluate weapons that might not be looked at otherwise, Lubin said.





Read more: http://kitup.military.com/2015/02/army-testing-stackable-grenades.html#ixzz3STxR8SQC
Kit Up!

You know some bored soldier is gonna stack six feet of em' together and post the blast on Youtube.

I thought it was pretty cool until I saw that you have the base unit and boosters.   You'd think they would have made it to where any unit could be the base, and unscrew fuzes to add on units.

Ok, where can I get some of these. I like them. But agree with the post above.

Instead of fucking around connecting them wouldn't it be quicker to throw two?

That was called a Bangalore in WWII...

Yeah but can he run far enough in 3.5 seconds to actually live to post the video?

What? You expected the Army to actually think it through to a logical conclusion?

depends on how well versed he is in the art of paracord.

point made!

I was thinking the same thing.

Guess you guys have never thrown a grenade before.

If there is a time delay between two grenades and they land somewhere close but not touching, the first grenade that detonates has a good chance of LAUNCHING the other grenade elsewhere before it detonates.

Which REALLY sucks if its back towards the thrower!

I think it has its uses for certain folks.

The Germans were doing this back in the 1940's:



~Will

How many times have you thrown grenades successively and had the previous grenade launch into a position where it's effectiveness is reduced or it was potentially hazardous to it's thrower?

A few times.  Thats why its part of your range safety brief to have only ONE thrower at a time to a pit.  And if there is a dud to CEASE THROWING.

There are some stories floating around where guys have had a dud, and decided to keep throwing to get everyone qual'd and NO-ONE wanted to do a TI & reschedule.

Lo and behold that dud comes flying back at them!




I personally have had a few as well.

A couple out fucking around on a grenade range when we had CASES of grenades to get rid of (EOD getting rid of by FUNCTIONING AS DESIGNED).

It sucks with frag grenades when they kick out.

Its funny as hell with flash bangs, grenade simulators and arty sims.

With flash bangs its a weak primer strike, or someone forgot to take ALL the tape off the spoons.

 Arty sims and grenade sims we were pulling fast and hucking them & had them come back.


We had a demo shot once, I let my team members build the shot and pull.

The shot was in a gulch, we had our up armors parked on top, I was running the radio with the terp.

My boys come boogeying up the hill giggling.

I asked whats so funny as the other gave the 2 minute warning.

TM: We put the grenades ON TOP of the shot!

Me: Those were FRAG grenades!

TM: Oops (grinning)

Me:  BUTTON UP!


Sure enough, 5-6 frag grenades did airbursts just about 25 feet above our heads!

We were buttoned up, and close to rotating back, a little krylon & recorded the damage as ROCK CHIPS & FRAG DAMAGE from disposal ops.


So yeah, I have seen it and THATS WHY ya don't do it.



Ya gotta figure on that range safety brief, that oddball shit gets briefed cause some knucklehead did it once.

~Will

Hmmm.  Our Form 1ers keep their charge outside of their grenades for regulatory reasons.  Could a thermobaric grenade be home built?  

YUCK.  Thermobarics are NASTY!

Theoretically, YES, but it depends on your fuel and oxidizer.

~Will

You don't like thermobarics from an EOD perspective, or?

The oxidizer for a thermobaric is atmospheric oxygen.  One of the more common fuels is powdered aluminum, I think.

Lol.  You think soldiers will stop at six!  

Yes, from an EOD perspective.  I don't like the LIQUID thermobarics, as they are toxic insidious carcinogens with mutagenic properties and ALWAYS have a leak at some point.


I have first hand experience with the RPO-A and the M72a9 LAW,I don't want to disclose the recipe for success for them.

Thermobarics are REALLY tricky, I think the MUJ are trying to get a recipe down that works for them, as they have POINT BLANK experience with the effectiveness of the warheads used ON THEM.

~Will

Sounds like all your experience with these are in a training environment. I don't see many soldiers in a fast paced combat environment stopping to pull out a base grenade and play tinker toy assembling one or 2 additional pieces. If they want an offensive grenade more powerful than a flashbang, why don't they just carry some Mk3A2's and toss them in there, if it doesn't do the job, toss another one in 5 seconds later. That has to be faster than playing around assembling these. It's worked for the last 50 years, why reinvent the wheel?  And if it's a situation where they need an offensive grenade that powerful which will probably be powerful enough to kill the target, then just be done with it and toss an M67 frag in there instead.

Nope.  14 years active duty, three deployments.

Current Army Civilian (no deployments!)



Thats what a PCI & rehearsals are for, know your target and assemble a charge for that target.

Yeah, I don't see dudes doing it on the fly, but if you have the time.  



MISSION DRIVES THE GEAR.



Worked for the last 50 years?  Sure, the GERMANS were doing this in the 1940's - so uh yeah.

THAT'S THE WAY WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT: we'd still be using clubs and rocks.

How do you bring down a HAJJ house?  Collapse a cave entrance?  A satchel charge.  Do Joes get issued stachel charges?  NOPE.

Or accumulate all the grenades you still have and BINGO.


All I am saying is that ITS A TOOL FOR THE TOOLBOX.  Is the END ALL BE ALL THERMO-GRE-NUKE?  Nope.

 Special Ops has been using them since 2010!  They LOVE THEM.  Why?  VERSATILITY!

So yeah, you can poo-poo them all you want, but, if its stupid and it works, its not stupid.

~Will

What's old is new again. Anyone else remember the gammon grenade?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gammon_bomb

At lead with the gammon you could use any bulk explosive you had available.

What about the dry powdered metal TB fillers like in the 40mm draco rounds?

I don't wanna talk about that on an open forum.

I meant regarding safety and handling, not recipe. Could pm me your opinion on such for dry powder type TB fillers?

I'm sorry but I don't see the link for purchase...please repost.

The packaged rounds are GTG.  Static initiation isn't so much of an issues, as they have measures to protect them, and discharging THROUGH a munition is tough, as ESD prefers to flow across the surface of a body.  Granted, once you get into the higher amperage of ESD, EMR or 'lectricity - its a different bird all together.

Now if they are damaged or broken apart, there are certain precautions to take, that do raise the pucker factor.

Flash Bangs with photo-flash powder leaking from damaged munitions is tons more scary though!!


Thats just my take on them, others are more cavalier and others are more daring.  

~Will

Where would one find photo-flash powder?  

They're readily available through your local gun-show loophole.

*Starts thumbing through yellow pages looking for enlistment office...*

Certain fireworks, just like the Tsarnaev brothers did.

Alot of folks get hurt trying to make their own, static electricity is the beast that rears its ugly head with photo-flash powder.

May not even be legal in your area, check & know your local laws.

~Will