The M111 hand grenade will replace the Mk3A2 series, which is restricted for use because of its asbestos body. The M111 has a plastic body that is fully consumed during detonation. (Christopher Arthur/U.S. Army)
U.S. soldiers have a new baseball-sized weapon in their arsenal designed to give them an advantage in close-quarter fighting.
The Army on Tuesday approved for full release of a hand grenade built for urban combat, marking the first new grenade to enter the service since the Vietnam War era.
According to the service, the M111 will provide an advantage in confined spaces while augmenting the M67, which is the primary hand grenade American soldiers have fought with since 1968.
Unlike the M67, which replaced the older “pineapple” grenade and releases steel fragments in all directions to inflict injury, the M111 leverages blast overpressure, the force generated by an explosion that can lead to severe injuries, according to an Army statement.
The Army has cleared the M111 hand grenade for service. It will replace the Mk3A2 series, marking the first new grenade for the Army since 1968. (Christopher Arthur/U.S. Army)
The M67 is more suited to fighting in open terrain, a key lesson the Army learned during door-to-door urban combat in Iraq, Col. Vince Morris said in the statement.
Inside a building, M67 shrapnel can be limited by enclosed spaces or barriers, the Army said. Fragments can pierce a thin wall and risk the lives of American service members on the other side, Morris said.
The blast overpressure generated by the M111 “can clear a room of enemy combatants quickly, leaving nowhere to hide while ensuring the safety of friendly forces,” said Morris, project manager for Close Combat Systems at the Capabilities Program Executive Ammunition and Energetics,.
The canister-shaped M111 was developed by Army engineers at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.
It replaces the obsolete Mk3A2 hand grenade series, which stopped being issued in 1975 due to asbestos in its exterior coating. The M111 uses a plastic body that is fully consumed during detonation, according to the Army.
