40mm grenade launcher Mk 18

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Mk-18 grenade launcher on tripod (Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City, right)

The Mk 18 Mod 0 is a fast-firing grenade launcher of American origin. It was developed by Honeywell in 1962 and produced until 1968. It was the first multiple grenade launcher for the US armed forces .

Development and use

During the Vietnam War , the US Navy recognized the need for effective short and medium-range support weapons that could be used on River Patrol Boats (PBR) . The US Navy boats patrolled the great rivers and inland waters of Vietnam and had the task of controlling and dominating the banks. To do this, they need great firepower from weapon systems, which had to be compact and light due to the limitations of boat size. Due to the dense vegetation in many places, a long fire range was not necessary. The Navy's solution was a rapid-fire grenade launcher with a caliber of 40 millimeters . Three technically very different systems were created:

  • The 40 mm Mark 18 grenade launcher described here was started in 1962 as the earliest of the three developments and was patented in 1964. It was designed to use the 40 × 46 mm grenade. Between 1965 and 1968 a total of about 1200 pieces were produced and used for the US Navy until they were replaced by later developments.
  • The Mk 19 machine grenade launcher has a more conventional structure and was designed to use the more powerful 40 × 53 mm grenade. However, it was not able to convince in the first three development stages Mod 0 to Mod 2.
  • The Mk 20 machine grenade launcher is a technically very unusual shooting blow-forward weapon and, like the Mark 18, uses the less powerful 40 × 46 mm grenade. Mark-20 grenade launcher was used on the US Navy river boats for several years. Only after the Mark 19 grenade launcher had reached a satisfactory level in the fourth development stage Mod 3 did it replace the Mark 20 from 1983.

technology

The Mark 18 grenade launcher is a repeating weapon . The ammunition of caliber 40 × 46 mm SR is fed from the left side via an ammunition belt. The shooter operates a hand crank, the movement of which actuates the belt feed and controls the other locking mechanism . The chamber is formed from two halves, which in turn are formed by rotating drums with six semicircular indentations, called “rotors”, above and below the barrel . These rotors pull the cartridge belt into the weapon and position the grenade in front of the barrel. The upper rotor is then lowered and locked in order to hold the grenade in place for firing. However, the bearing never closes completely, a gap remains between the two rotors through which the cartridge belt is also guided. After the shot has been fired, the store opens again and the belt is transported further, the empty cartridge case still in the belt is replaced by a new, loaded cartridge. The rate of fire depends on the speed at which the shooter turns the crank. In practice it was around 100–250 rounds per minute.

Technical specifications

Mk-18 grenade launcher
Caliber: 40 × 46 mm SR
fire rate 100-250 rounds / min.
Muzzle velocity 65.5 m / s
Max. Range 360 m
Max. effective range 230 m
length 56 cm
width 24 cm
height 30.5 cm
Weight 8.6 kg

literature

  • George M. Chinn, The Machine Gun. Volume V, 1987, pp. 481-486.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Chinn, Machine Gun, p. 481.
  2. ↑ Bob Stoner, NOS Louisville Mk 20 Mod 0 Automatic 40mm Grenade Launcher on warboats.org , published 2005, last accessed January 13, 2018.
  3. ↑ Information according to Chinn, Machine Gun, p. 484, partially converted into the metric system.
  4. ↑ Information according to McCollum, Mk 18, 2017, and Stoner, Mk 18, 2005. Chinn, Machine Gun, p. 484 gives a maximum range of 4200 m.
  5. ↑ Information according to McCollum, Mk 18, 2017, and Stoner, Mk 18, 2005. Chinn, Machine Gun, p. 484 gives a maximum effective range of 3600 m.