The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) will soon be getting new 40 mm medium velocity grenades from Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM).
The company said the SANDF will be the first client furnished with its full suite of 40mm medium velocity (MV) ammunition comprising six variants with delivery of an initial and follow up order scheduled for completion in 2019. The suite includes High Explosive (HE), High Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP), Target Marker, Practice Tracer, Practice and Smoke Red Phosphorous variants.
“Having our local defence force giving us their stamp of approval and having our products accepted in their military doctrine is always first prize and a great achievement”, said RDM’s 40mm Grenade Product Manager, Jean-Pierre Conradie.
This reference is an important milestone for the successful international marketing of this game changing capability, RDM said, adding that the introduction of its 40mm medium velocity grenade suite has seen much interest from prospective international clients, with the first large production delivery being concluded end 2018.
RDM medium velocity ammunition has a range of up to 800 metres. “The round provides the end user with the range unmatched by conventional low velocity 40mm grenade ammunition, thus allowing the user to engage a target with higher precision and from a safer distance,” RDM said.
RDM’s 40×51 mm medium velocity grenade ammunition is being sold to international customers in the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and the Middle East and has been evaluated by the United States military.
The SANDF operates multi-shot and automatic grenade launchers and recently acquired 370 medium velocity 40 mm grenade launchers from Milkor, which are compatible with 40×46 mm low velocity and 40×51 mm medium velocity rounds. Last year Armscor issued a tender for the launchers as well as 370 optical sights, 15 laser rangefinders and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
The November 2017 Armscor tender called for 1 458 rounds of 40 mm medium velocity practice ammunition; 1 458 rounds of 40 mm practice medium velocity ammunition; 1 458 rounds of 40 mm high explosive medium velocity ammunition; 1 458 rounds of 40 mm high explosive dual purpose medium velocity ammunition; 1 458 rounds of 40 mm medium velocity smoke rounds; and 1 458 rounds of 40 mm orange marker medium velocity ammunition.
