The US Army is replacing its arsenal. For the first time since 1968, it introduces a new grenade

After almost sixty years, the United States Army has abandoned the old Mk3A2 fragmentation grenade and approved the new M111 offensive hand grenade for service, as announced on its official website Army.mil.

The decision allows the replacement of the old series of grenades, which have remained in limited use for years due to safety concerns related to its asbestos body. The new grenade has a plastic body that is completely “used” during the explosion.

The first version of the MK3 grenade was created in March 1918, later the weapon underwent two modifications, the last one in 1968, and nothing has been changed since then.

Army representatives said that its design was based on experience gained during combat operations in urban areas in Iraq, where fragmentation grenades sometimes posed a threat to the soldiers who threw them and their companions standing too close.

The new M111 grenade uses explosion overpressure instead of fragments, which increases its effectiveness and reduces the risk of injury to own forces during combat in urban areas, as explained on Wednesday by the industry portal Defense-blog.

The overpressure of the explosion, commonly called BOP (blast overpressure), generates a powerful shock wave when the grenade detonates. In confined spaces, this wave is as deadly as metal shrapnel from conventional grenades. (PAP)

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