by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
Destroying enemies with explosive fragmentation, burning enemy equipment, clearing rooms and caves for fast-advancing infantry attack, forcing enemy fighters to flee from defilade or hidden areas to make them vulnerable to gunfire and simply “obscuring” an enemies view with a wall of smoke to enable combat maneuver … are all tactical methods soldiers have used with grenades for centuries.
They may have first emerged in the 16th-Century, but current US Army weapons and technology developers are clear that grenades … are going nowhere soon.
“Grenades are still relevant to the fight today to uh, you know, cost, domain maneuver and will be for the foreseeable future,” John Yancey, Director, Soldier Requirements Division, told Warrior in an interview.
There have for many years been three key kinds of grenades, including explosive or fragmentation grenades to kill enemy fighters, incendiary grenades to burn enemy equipment and “smoke” grenades to enable combat maneuver. Grenades were of course used extensively and to great effect in WWI, WWII and Vietnam, yet Close Quarter Battle and the need for infantry to prevail in a “close-in-fight” moving to contact with an enemy … is as critical as ever. However, the nature of the threat and the tactical equation has certainly evolved with the advent of new enemy technologies, so the Army is immersed in what could be called intense efforts to make grenades more effective in a modern combat environment.
“We’re definitely looking at capabilities specifically for combat, such as thermal and infrared capabilities or specifically with night vision. There’s certain obscuration grenades that allow teams to maneuver against, you know, near peer threats equipped with infrared and thermal capabilities. That’s definitely, you know, something that the Army is looking at,” Maj. Marcus Farmer, Lethality Branch Chief, told Warrior in an interview.
…yet the Army is now innovating new ways to make grenades both more lethal and safer.
“We’re seeking improved incinerate grenades or enhanced incendiary grenades, if you would. That’s no secret here. They’re burning quicker. Go hotter. Or maybe faster and hotter than the current legacy grenade? And safer to use as well. So it is important to note that they’re all talking about lethality. And throwing grenades and improved capability,” Yancey said.
Smoke Grenades, Incendiary Grenades
Certainly technological applications enabling this kind of next-generation defensive ability are likely not available for security reasons, yet an ability to emit smoke or chemicals sufficient to “blind” enemy thermal sensors would naturally provide an unprecedented tactical advantage.
As enemies will likely be equipped with new generations of sensing, navigational information and data-generated target specifics, one reason why the Army seeks to counter enemy thermal sensors. Offensively, emerging US Army technology could certainly enable better targeting and precision for grenade attacks. While specific guidance technologies for grenades are not yet in the equation, as they can be thrown roughly 30 yards, forward ISR could enable more precise and accurate employment for grenade attacks. Perhaps mini-drones could send back real-time video of enemy areas, helping soldiers know exactly where to throw the grenade to hit enemies or avoid civilian areas with grenade explosions? The realm of technological exploration is bound to continue, and certainly small kinds of ammunition are increasingly being engineered with mini-sensors and guidance technology for possible future application. There are already efforts to explore new kinds of “fusing” such as a grenade that functions more like an air burst or “proximity” round to improve lethality by hitting enemies in defilade through wider dispersion and 360-degree fragmentation.
“There’s no specific guidance. I guess you could say in terms of hand grenades as we always discuss. These are required to pull the pin and throw it, but there’s always ongoing efforts to increase, you know, the validity of the screen, the smoke for it as well as improving incendiary degradation. No specific guidance, but we’re always seeking to improve in those areas,” Farmer said
Enhanced networking between dismounted soldiers through targeting, night vision links, secure radios and AI-enabled processing of enemy movement detail could certainly better position infantry to use grenades with vastly improved tactical effect. Yancey explained that emerging technologies can better enable smoke grenades to “mask” thermal signatures.
“If you look at the smoke with your naked eye, it just looks like smoke. You know, you can’t see the soldiers through it. With night vision devices or thermal sensors, if you look through it, it looks like smoke. It certainly masks thermal signatures when soldiers maneuver. So you know how we employed those, is that you know it to mask our movement or our maneuver when we’re in close contact with the enemy,” Yancey said.
Most soldiers operate with grenades, Yancey and Farmer said, so naturally the Army seeks to simultaneously make them lighter and more lethal.
“We’re definitely, always, trying to improve more of the fragmentation of the grenade. If you can make something lighter, that’s always A+ in in our military. So trying to make it smaller, lighter, more versatile, increase penetration things like that would make it a lot more effective than our older models which are a lot heavier and maybe less effective,” Farmer explained.
Upon initial thought, one is likely to think immediately about lethality and destructiveness when it comes to grenades. However, new innovations are also working to help “save” lives and improve safety as well. Yancey and Farmer talked about new technologies for “insensitive” munitions designed to prevent any kind of accidental detonation. This is particularly key as soldiers would not want grenades to detonate or explode and the wrong time in the wrong situation.
“We’re making grenades safer, better fuses, more reliable, I would say, also reshaping what a lot of people on the smoke grenades called the spoon the safety lever to ensure that the soldiers are grasping them correctly and employing them properly, so they improve safety,” Yancey said.
Grenades in the 8th Century, World War I
The earliest recorded grenades were called “Greek Fire” in the 8th century CE, Byzantine period, according to an interesting essay in ThoughtCo.com,
Tactical advantage is exactly what grenades have been providing for centuries, as they were also used extensively in Europe in the 16th Century, according to Thoughtco.com.
“The first grenades were hollow iron balls filled with gunpowder and ignited by a slow burning fuse rolled in dampened gunpowder and dried. This standard design weighed between 2.5 and six pounds each. During the 17th century, armies began to form specialized divisions of soldiers trained to throw grenades. These specialists were called grenadiers, and for a time were regarded as elite fighters; by the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1815), elite grenadiers left the grenade throwing to fighting direct sieges,” the Thoughtco.com essay states.
Grenades also have a distinct and highly impactful history in World War I, according to an essay from the National WWI Museum and Memorial. The essay states that grenades could kill enemies “underground or behind cover.” This would certainly make sense given the famo
us trench warfare in WWI.
“They could also force the enemy into the open, providing targets for rifle and machine gun fire,” the essay states. This makes sense as well, given that both Farmer and Yancey explained that most grenades detonate in three to five seconds, so if an enemy is quick to flee and does not get hit by a grenade, they might quickly move out into the open and quickly become vulnerable to rifle fire. Certainly grenades were thrown into the trenches in WWI to disperse or “empty” out areas where enemy fighters took cover to avoid incoming fire.
The World War I “offensive grenades” were also used to simply disable enemy fighters with shock waves or concussion-causing blasts, the WWI Museum and Memorial essay writes. Smoke or “illumination” grenades have also been key throughout centuries of warfare. Smoke and flare kinds of WWI grenades, interestingly, had many names and were made of a variety of materials.
“Gas, smoke and illuminating grenades were also used in World War I. These grenades were made of brass, iron and steel, some with handles of wood and even cardboard. They went by many names: Battye bombs, Citron Foug, Newton-Pippin, Petard, Besozzi, Kugel, Cigaro and Sigwart; and took on many shapes,” the essay states.
A version of this essay first appeared in Army Magazine
Kris Osborn is the Military Affairs Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
