Stackable Hand Grenades?

[thvigil11]

Safe link. Not sure how I feel about lego grenades. Especially the need for the specific base grenade. Interesting concept though.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2...renades-hooah/


The U.S. Army is testing out a new type of hand grenade being referred to as stackable, although the actual connectivity brings to mind the methods used to connect cylindrical Legos. They’re called the Scalable Offensive Hand Grenade, and they far out-perform the standard fragmentation grenade. It’s their connectivity giving them this ability: soldiers can simply connect – or “stack” – the grenades one atop the other, creating chains up to three in length. And, of course, with each connection comes greater firepower.

Live-fire testing was recently carried out at Fort Benning, Georgia, where a lot of the fun explosions and jumping from planes seems to take place. Testing took place during the annual Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE) at the Maneuver Center of Excellence, and by all accounts it went well.
The grenades are canisters with threaded, circular necks capable of screwing into the matching threaded hole found at their base. There is a method to connecting them, though; there’s a specific base grenade with a 3.5-second fuse, which cannot be removed. Both the base grenade and connecting grenades contain 0.25 pounds of explosives within their bodies. When the maximum three modules are connected and detonated, they’re capable of an impressive display of power, as was demonstrated at Benning when one such grenade creation took down an adobe one-room building all by itself.

There’s actually never been a live-fire portion at the AEWE before; this was the first year such testing was carried out during the event. And although the Army hasn’t decided yet whether or not to include the new grenades as part of their arsenal, at least the explosives were given a chance to be seen in action. Including live-fire testing means weapons that might otherwise be ignored are seen by officials, so maybe they have a chance. One thing’s for sure, these are some awesome explosives, and one can only begin to imagine the potential manuals and calculations created regarding how military brass might like to see soldiers implement them. It would, after all, need to be added to grenade training. Just think of the many ways these could be deployed…

- See more at: http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2....avVBFQSw.dpuf



The U.S. Army is testing out a new type of hand grenade being referred to as stackable, although the actual connectivity brings to mind the methods used to connect cylindrical Legos. They’re called the Scalable Offensive Hand Grenade, and they far out-perform the standard fragmentation grenade. It’s their connectivity giving them this ability: soldiers can simply connect – or “stack” – the grenades one atop the other, creating chains up to three in length. And, of course, with each connection comes greater firepower.

Live-fire testing was recently carried out at Fort Benning, Georgia, where a lot of the fun explosions and jumping from planes seems to take place. Testing took place during the annual Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE) at the Maneuver Center of Excellence, and by all accounts it went well.
The grenades are canisters with threaded, circular necks capable of screwing into the matching threaded hole found at their base. There is a method to connecting them, though; there’s a specific base grenade with a 3.5-second fuse, which cannot be removed. Both the base grenade and connecting grenades contain 0.25 pounds of explosives within their bodies. When the maximum three modules are connected and detonated, they’re capable of an impressive display of power, as was demonstrated at Benning when one such grenade creation took down an adobe one-room building all by itself.

There’s actually never been a live-fire portion at the AEWE before; this was the first year such testing was carried out during the event. And although the Army hasn’t decided yet whether or not to include the new grenades as part of their arsenal, at least the explosives were given a chance to be seen in action. Including live-fire testing means weapons that might otherwise be ignored are seen by officials, so maybe they have a chance. One thing’s for sure, these are some awesome explosives, and one can only begin to imagine the potential manuals and calculations created regarding how military brass might like to see soldiers implement them. It would, after all, need to be added to grenade training. Just think of the many ways these could be deployed…

- See more at: http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2....avVBFQSw.dpuf


The Firearm Blog




- See more at: http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2....avVBFQSw.dpufhttp://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2...renades-hooah/

[Dave]

They seem like they would get hard to throw past two being connected. The reason why our current grenades work so well is because you can throw one like a baseball which is easier for most people to throw than a football for longer distance and accuracy. Maybe if you put several together and used them like the old bangalores from WWII, but we have other items that can do that job better. Plus, like Foxtrot mentioned I have a hard time seeing most soldiers stopping in combat to assemble these instead of just pulling pins and tossing several in.

[thvigil11]

Looks like they are more concussive than anything at a glance. Don't think it would improve the effectiveness, fragmentation has made our grenades successful. We don't use them to take buildings down, so that's irrelevant, and I don't really see someone dicking with screwing a bunch together in combat. Doubt they get implemented, but nonetheless, trying new things in R and D is never bad.

Agreed. We have had much better options for taking down building anyway. "Gustaf !!!!"

"So is this guy hiding over there a screw 2 together or screw 3 together? Hmmm, let me thing about this for a while."

Just thought it was an interesting article.

[Hound]

Interesting. I look at it this way. I think you guys are correct, 90% of the time they would be used as a single, hand tossed grenade. The other 10% are for special circumstances when something is really being a problem and more is needed. There may be other tools but you have to carry them with you, meaning more weight. This would be standard carry and enable a couple of guys to combine thier resources in those special cases. I see this being really useful in forward units running without full support.

Just my .02

[wctriumph]

I want some. Looks like a good idea to me. I'm sure any soldier would like more fire power anytime.

[SamuraiCO]

Interesting. I look at it this way. I think you guys are correct, 90% of the time they would be used as a single, hand tossed grenade. The other 10% are for special circumstances when something is really being a problem and more is needed. There may be other tools but you have to carry them with you, meaning more weight. This would be standard carry and enable a couple of guys to combine thier resources in those special cases. I see this being really useful in forward units running without full support.

Just my .02

With some type of focusing tool they could replace explosives having to carried as well. Two uses for the same product. We all understand that concept.

[JohnnyEgo]

So if you are in a 1 or 2 grenade situation and you toss your base grenade, are you then left with 1 or 2 stackables and no way to use them? I guess my thought being that not everything is a 3 grenade solution, and at some point are you carrying something that is offensively worthless because it doesn't have a detonation device, but still potentially dangerous if it takes a hit from enemy fire? Or equally as important, more worthless weight to carry around?

[thvigil11]

So if you are in a 1 or 2 grenade situation and you toss your base grenade, are you then left with 1 or 2 stackables and no way to use them? I guess my thought being that not everything is a 3 grenade solution, and at some point are you carrying something that is offensively worthless because it doesn't have a detonation device, but still potentially dangerous if it takes a hit from enemy fire? Or equally as important, more worthless weight to carry around?

Just pee on the bad guys, works for rapists!

[BushMasterBoy]

Finally a grenade that fits my cup holders...

[brutal]

They run out of 100MPH tape?