![]() To operate the “launcher,” a golf ball would be placed inside the tube and compressed against a spring. The device was comprised of a short length of tubing with the same inside diameter as a golf ball. Jack Bird, a deputy to Colonel Studler, took an interest in the project he built a crude launcher and brought it to the Pentagon to demonstrate. The concept of a lightweight weapon capable of projecting a grenade further than could be thrown by hand and could exceed the range of rifle-launched grenades was coordinated by the Small Arms Development Branch, headed by Colonel Studler. The advantage of the high-low system was that a lightweight barrel could be used, reducing the overall weight of the weapon. ![]() The new projectile used a high-low pressure system, which was developed by the German firm of Rheinmetall-Borsig during World War II for their 8cm 8H63 anti-tank gun. The goal was a range of 400 meters at the relatively low velocity of 250 feet per second, with a recoil force no more than that of a 12-gauge shotgun. During the 1950s the United States Ordnance Department began development of a weapon that could fire high explosive munitions, multiple projectile anti-personnel rounds and smoke and illumination rounds.ĭuring the early 1950s the Ballistic Research Laboratories at the Aberdeen Proving Ground developed a 40mm high-explosive, fragmentation projectile. Clearly, a new weapon was needed, one that could provide accurate direct and indirect fire to fill the gap between the rifle, hand grenades and the light mortar. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |