Plastic explosive is a soft and hand-moldable solid form of explosive material. Within the field of explosives engineering, plastic explosives are also known as putty explosives or blastics.
Brisance is the shattering capability of a high explosive, determined mainly by its detonation pressure.
Stielhandgranate is the German term for "stick hand grenade" and generally refers to a prominent series of World War I and World War II–era German stick grenade designs, distinguished by their long wooden handles, pull cord arming and cylindrical warheads. The first models were introduced by the Imperial German Army during World War I and the final design was introduced during World War II by the German Wehrmacht.
Composition B, also known as Hexotol and Hexolite, is a high explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenades, and various other munitions. It was also used for the explosive lenses in the first implosion-type nuclear weapons developed by the United States.
The RGD-5 is a post–World War II Soviet anti-personnel fragmentation grenade, designed in the early 1950s. The RGD-5 was accepted into service with the Soviet Army in 1954. It was widely exported, and is still in service with many armies in the Middle East and the former Soviet bloc.
The M67 grenade is a fragmentation hand grenade used by the United States military. The M67 is a further development of the M33 grenade, itself a replacement for the M26-series grenades used during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the older Mk 2 "pineapple" grenade used since World War I.
The Mk 2 grenade, also nicknamed the Pineapple is a fragmentation-type anti-personnel hand grenade introduced by the U.S. armed forces in 1918. It was the standard issue anti-personnel grenade used during World War II, and also saw limited service in later conflicts, including the Korean War and Vietnam War. Replacing the failed Mk 1 grenade of 1917, it was standardized in 1920 as the Mk II, and redesignated the Mk 2 on 2 April 1945.
The RGO hand grenade is a defensive Soviet fragmentation hand grenade introduced mid 1980s alongside the RGN during the Soviet-Afghan War to replace the earlier F-1, RG-42, and RGD-5 hand grenades, which proved to be inadequate in the mountains of Afghanistan.
The RGN hand grenade is an offensive Soviet blast hand grenade introduced during the Soviet-Afghan war alongside the RGO to replace the earlier F-1, RG-42, and RGD-5 hand grenades which proved to be inadequate in the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan.
The Soviet RGD-33 is a dual use stick grenade developed in 1933.
The M26 is a fragmentation hand grenade developed by the United States military. It entered service around 1952 and was used in combat during the Korean War. Its distinct lemon shape led it to being nicknamed the "lemon grenade".
The military of the United States has used many different types of hand grenades since its foundation.
An anti-personnel mine or anti-personnel landmine (APL) is a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to an anti-tank mine, which target vehicles. APLs are classified into: blast mines and fragmentation mines; the latter may or may not be a bounding mine.
The PMN series of blast anti-personnel mines were designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union. They are one of the most widely used and commonly found devices during demining operations. They are sometimes nicknamed "black widow" because of their dark casings.
The VS-50 is a circular plastic-cased anti-personnel blast mine that entered production in 1985. It was formerly made by the now-defunct Valsella Meccanotecnica SpA, an Italian high-tech defence company specialized in area denial systems. The company also the made the Valmara 69, and was one of the first to implement plastic construction for landmines. The VS-50's design is similar to that of the TS-50 and VS-MK2 mines. It is blast resistant and can be used in a minimum metal configuration. Though unlikely to kill, its explosive charge is quite sufficient to destroy the victim's foot, being capable of penetrating 5 mm of mild steel leaving an 80 mm-diameter hole.
The HG 85 is a round fragmentation hand grenade designed for the Swiss Armed Forces, and is still produced by RUAG Ammotec in Switzerland. HG 85 is the internal designation of the Swiss Army and replaced the HG 43 from World War II.
In military munitions, a fuze is the part of the device that initiates its function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze designs can be seen in cutaway diagrams.
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand, but can also refer to a shell shot from the muzzle of a rifle or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade generally consists of an explosive charge ("filler"), a detonator mechanism, an internal striker to trigger the detonator, an arming safety secured by a transport safety. The user removes the transport safety before throwing, and once the grenade leaves the hand the arming safety gets released, allowing the striker to trigger a primer that ignites a fuze, which burns down to the detonator and explodes the main charge.
Poudreries Réunies de Belgique SA was one of Belgium's oldest and largest manufacturers of munitions, once the second-largest Belgium armaments manufacturer. The company indirectly started in 1778 in Wetteren as a gunpowder factory. By its 200th anniversary in 1979 it had 73 factories throughout the world, with the headquarters in Brussels.
The SB 2500 (Spezialbombe) was a luftmine or aerial mine in English used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.
