Heckler & Koch GmbH is a German firearms manufacturer that produces handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar, Baden-Württemberg, and also has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.
A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially designed, large-caliber projectile, often with an explosive, smoke, or gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary grenade cartridges. The most common type are man-portable, shoulder-fired weapons issued to individuals, although larger crew-served launchers are issued at higher levels of organization by military forces.
The Objective Individual Combat Weapon or OICW was the next-generation service rifle competition that was under development as part of the United States Army OICW program; the program was eventually discontinued without bringing the weapon out of the prototype phase. The acronym OICW is often used to refer to the entire weapons program.
The M203 is a single-shot 40 mm under-barrel grenade launcher designed to attach to a rifle. It uses the same rounds as the older stand-alone M79 break-action grenade launcher, which utilizes the high-low propulsion system to keep recoil forces low. While compatible with many weapons, the M203 was originally designed and produced by the United States military for the M16 rifle and its carbine variant, the M4. The launcher can also be mounted onto a C7, a Canadian version of the M16 rifle; this requires the prior removal of the bottom handguard.
The Heckler & Koch G3 is a select-fire battle rifle chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO developed in the 1950s by the German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch, in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned firearms manufacturer CETME. The G3 was the service rifle of the German Bundeswehr until it was replaced by the Heckler & Koch G36 in the 1990s, and was adopted into service with numerous other countries.
The Heckler & KochXM8 is a lightweight assault rifle system developed from the late 1990s to early 2000s. The rifle was designed by German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K), and shares design and engineering with their G36 rifle.
The M79 grenade launcher is a single-shot, shoulder-fired, break-action grenade launcher that fires a 40×46mm grenade, which uses what the US Army calls the High-Low Propulsion System to keep recoil forces low, and first appeared during the Vietnam War. Its distinctive report has earned it colorful nicknames, such as "Thumper", "Thump-Gun", "Bloop Tube", "Big Ed", "Elephant Gun", and "Blooper" among American soldiers as well as "Can Cannon" in reference to the grenade size; Australian units referred to it as the "Wombat Gun". The M79 can fire a wide variety of 40 mm rounds, including explosive, anti-personnel, smoke, buckshot, flechette, and illumination. While largely replaced by the M203, the M79 has remained in service in many units worldwide in niche roles.
The Heckler & KochG36(Gewehr 36) is an assault rifle designed in the early 1990s by German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It is chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO, and replaced the heavier G3 battle rifle chambered in 7.62×51mm. The G36 was accepted into service with the Bundeswehr in 1997. Since then, it has been a popular export, and has seen active service in military and police units in several countries, including Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The G36 is gas-operated and feeds from a 30-round detachable box magazine or 100-round C-Mag drum magazine.
The GP-25 Kostyor ("Bonfire"), GP-30 Obuvka ("Shoe") and GP-34 are a family of Russian 40 mm under-barrel muzzleloaded grenade launchers for the AK family of assault rifles. The acronym GP stands for Granatomyot Podstvolnyj, "under-barrel grenade launcher" in Russian, and was adopted by Soviet forces in 1978.
The XM148 was an experimental 40 mm grenade launcher developed by Colt Firearms as the CGL-4. Colt manufactured the launcher for field testing during the Vietnam War era. After problems with the experimental design were discovered, the XM148 was replaced by AAI Corporation's conceptually similar M203 design, which became the primary grenade launcher used by the US armed forces and others until its ongoing replacement with the M320.
M320 Grenade Launcher Module (GLM) is the U.S. military's designation for a new single-shot 40 mm grenade launcher system to replace the M203 for the U.S. Army, while other services initially kept using the older M203. The M320 uses the same High-Low Propulsion System as the M203.
The Heckler & Koch HK416 is an assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge. It is designed and manufactured by the German company Heckler & Koch.
The FX-05 Xiuhcoatl is a Mexican assault rifle, designed and built by the Dirección General de Industria Militar del Ejército through the Fabricas Militares. The rifle was officially presented in the military parade on September 16, 2006, in the hands of the Special Forces Airmobile Group, GAFE.
The Heckler & Koch HK417 is a battle rifle designed and manufactured by Heckler & Koch.
The HK69A1 is a 40 mm grenade launcher developed and produced by the German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K). The weapon was designed to engage enemy troops and strongpoints out to a distance of 350 m; it can also be used to deploy smoke grenades and illumination flares.
The GMG is an automatic grenade launcher developed by Heckler & Koch for the German Army. It is also often referred to as GMW or GraMaWa (Granatmaschinenwaffe).
The AG-C/EGLM is a single-shot 40 mm grenade launcher that attaches to assault rifles of various types. It is manufactured by Heckler and Koch and is derived from the AG36. EGLM stands for "Enhanced Grenade Launching Module". A stand-alone variant exists. The device attaches under the barrel. A separate sighting system is added to rifles fitted with the AG-C/EGLM, as the rifle's standard sights are not matched to the launcher. The AG-C/EGLM can fire high-explosive, smoke, illuminating, buckshot direct fire, CS gas, and training grenades.
The Milkor 40mm UBGL grenade launcher is a lightweight single-shot, underslung grenade launcher designed and developed in South Africa by Milkor (Pty) Ltd. It can be attached to most modern assault weapons and rifles using a Picatinny rail system. The UBGL is capable of firing standard 40mm rounds including illumination and observation rounds. Clip-on, clip-off mechanism allows the UBGL to be fitted, with an additional recoil buffer, to any weapon fitted with a Picatinny rail.
The Pike is a precision-guided mini-missile or grenade munition designed by Raytheon. It is a 40 mm guided munition that can be fired from the barrel of a Heckler & Koch M320 Grenade Launcher Module and FN Enhanced Grenade Launching Module (EGLM) like a standard 40mm grenade, but is powered by a rocket motor to propel it 2,000 m to give infantrymen improved extended-range precision capabilities. The weapon uses a digital, semi-active laser seeker to guide itself to within five meters of the target; it can operate in a two-man shooter/spotter team or by the grenadier alone lazing after firing, as it can fly for 15 seconds before homing in. When fired, Pike has a small propellant to "kick" it 2.5–3 m (8.2–9.8 ft) out of the tube before the nearly smokeless motor ignites, and range is dependent on firing angle. The munition is effective against fixed and slow-moving mid-range targets, using a 6⁄10 lb blast fragmentation warhead with a 10-meter lethality radius. Raytheon developed the weapon for three years in collaboration with Nammo Talley, which developed the warhead and propulsion system. The Pike is intended to be more accurate with a longer range than rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and standard rifle grenades, while being far lighter and more cost-effective than current infantry guided weapons like the $78,000 each FGM-148 Javelin. Further improvements could include different fuses, multiple-round simultaneous programming and targeting with data-link capabilities, and platform integration onto small boats, vehicles, and small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Pike weighs 1.7 lb (0.77 kg) and is 16.8 in (43 cm) long, too long to fit in the breech of the M203 grenade launcher. At AUSA 2015, Raytheon revealed they had performed two successful test firings of the Pike.
