The Fort Benning Maneuver Center of Excellence, Program Manager for Close Combat Systems and the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center look to develop a new lethal hand grenade that works to deliver both fragmentation and blast overpressure explosions.
The Army said Monday the Enhanced Tactical Multi-Purpose hand grenade will utilize a soldier-centric design based on close-combat requirements in efforts to provide flexibility, ease of use and safety to warfighters in the field.
“Not only will ET-MP provide additional capabilities and lethality to the warfighter, it will also be the first Army Fuze Safety Review Board and Insensitive Munition-qualified lethal grenade in the Army’s portfolio,” said Jessica Perciballi, ARDEC project officer for ET-MP.
She noted ET-MP is designed for ambidextrous use and is multipurpose to enable soldiers to carry only one type of hand grenade for both fragmentation or concussive effects.
“With these upgrades in the ET-MP, not only is the fuze timing completely electronic, but the detonation train is also out-of-line,” said Matthew Hall, grenades tech base development lead.
He added the service branch plans to transition the new hand grenade to PM CCS in fiscal year 2020.
