Army to test lightweight grenade launcher.

• Author: Foster, Sharon
• Position: Tech Talk - Brief Article

The U.S. Army is scheduled this month to begin testing a new crew-served weapon system intended to be the successor to its MK19 40 mm automatic grenade launcher, according to John Harvey, business development manager for General Dynamics Armament Systems, of Burlington, Vt.

GDAS is producing the new weapon--known as the MK47 Striker, a 40 mm advanced lightweight grenade machine gun--in partnership with Computing Devices Canada Ltd. and the Nordic Ammunition Company (NAMM0).

Unlike the older model, the MK47 uses recent sensing, targeting and computer-programming technology to identify and hit targets, Harvey explained. The MK47's fire control system, developed by Computing Devices Canada, utilizes video-image processing and...