- M61 grenade
The M61 grenade is a fragmentation hand grenade used by the
US Armed Forces in theVietnam War .The M61 has a thin sheet steel wall enclosing a notched steel coil and explosive core. When the grenade
detonate s, the coil shatters into high-velocity fragments that can cause casualties up to 15 metres away. Its design has been widely copied by various nations e.g. theUnited Kingdom 's L2A2,South Africa 's M26,Portugal 's M312, and theIsraeli M26A2. It is sometimes referred to as a "lemon" grenade, because its explosive shell is shaped like alemon fruit. Many millions of the M61 and its clones have been manufactured over the years.The explosive in a M61 grenade is
Composition B .A similar
Soviet grenade dating from the same era is theRGD-5 .External links
* [http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m61.htm FAS Military Analysis Network - M61 frag grenade]
* [http://inert-ord.net/usa03a/usa3/m61/index.html Photographs & schematic diagram of M61 grenade]
* [http://members.shaw.ca/dwlynn/british/L2A2.jpgPhoto of British L2A2 grenade]
ee also
*
United States hand grenades
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