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A grenade launcher is a Weapon that launches a Grenade to greater distances than a soldier could throw by hand. Most grenade launchers are man-portable, shoulder-fired weapons, usually mounted on a rifle such as the AK-47 or M16 . However, many can be used independently, such as the M79 and AG36 . These are almost always single shot, manually reloaded weapons firing 30–40 millimeter Caliber grenades which rarely resemble hand grenades, but look more like miniature Artillery Shell s. There are also heavier examples, including Automatic grenade launchers for ground and vehicle use. Capable of a relatively high rate of fire, these automatic grenade launchers are used for suppressive fire and to destroy or disable Light Vehicles and buildings. Examples of modern man-portable grenade launchers are the M203 and GP-30 , which mount to Service Rifle s. Automatic launchers include the Mk 19 , AGS-17 , and the HK GMG , which all fire at a higher Velocity than related shoulder-fired grenades. Modern developments tend toward smaller, faster, and massed grenade fire. The XM25 is a shoulder-fired, Magazine -fed automatic launcher firing 25mm projectiles. It was originally a component of the XM29 OICW Program , but modified to a larger caliber. Its heavy equivalent is the XM307 ACSW automatic grenade launcher that is reportedly convertible between the 25mm grenade ammunition and standard .50 BMG cartridges. Both are intended to fire programmable "smart" Grenades capable of being set to explode at a certain distance from firer and height above the ground. This gives the ability to hit targets inside of rooms or behind hard cover that would normally not be reachable by Smallarms fire. Though not strictly a grenade launching platform, the Metal Storm system is certainly usable in this role. The idea is to place multiple projectiles stacked in a single Barrel and fire them either in sequence, in bursts, or all at once. Due to this configuration, and the fact that the charges are Electronically Fired , the system can reach an amazing Rate Of Fire while maintaining simplicity and reliability. The concept of stacking projectiles in one barrel is not new but never before has a system been as integrated and possibly useful as this. Multiple barrels could be mounted holding different types of grenades to deal with different threats such as Personnel or Heavily Armored Vehicles . While grenades do not normally pose a threat to armored vehicles, one side effect of an extremely high rate of fire is the fact that it could ''dig'' through using successive projectiles fired at one point. This may seem like the ideal system for grenade launchers, however, due to the fact that once a barrel's charges are expended, you would then be carrying dead weight or have to throw away an entire barrel instead of simply inserting a new magazine or Belt . For this reason, it is unlikely that Metal Storm will become a standard issue smallarm, other than for Special Operations , unless a way to make cheaper and lighter barrels can be found. One experimental attempt at meshing a traditional rifle and Metal Storm system is the Australian Advanced Individual Combat Weapon program that takes the standard Steyr AUG rifle and places a 40mm Metal Storm barrel on top with a Fire Control System built into the stock. As it is still at the Prototype stages, it has yet to be seen whether this combination will actually be effective in the field. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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