US Grenade Launchers: M79, M203, and M320 (Weapon)

In an effort to supply the US infantryman with extra firepower to cowl the vary hole between the hand grenade and the sunshine mortar, the 40mm M79 grenade launcher–a shoulder-fired, single-shot weapon–entered service with US forces in 1961.

Dependable, simple to make use of, and lethally efficient, the M79 quickly grew to become an iconic image of the Vietnam Battle and had a profound affect on small-unit ways. Because the Vietnam battle continued, it was joined on the entrance line by experimental fashions such because the magazine-fed T148E1, in addition to two launchers meant to be fitted beneath the barrel of the brand new M16 assault rifle: Colt’s XM148 and AAI Company’s M203. The M203 stays in US Military service at this time, whereas the US Marine Corps now additionally fields the M32 a number of grenade launcher–like the M79, a standalone weapon.

That includes full-color paintings, that is the story of the rugged and formidable grenade launchers that outfitted the USA and its allies in Vietnam and past from the Nineteen Sixties to the current day.