VOG - 25

Grenade launchers have a much older history than one might expect.

As far back as the 1700s, soldiers were using “hand mortars” that looked like blunderbusses that were then muzzle loaded with fused bombs.

The fuse had to be lit first and then shot, so if something went wrong the bomb would go off inside of the hand mortar. As a result, they were rather infamous among soldiers of the time. The first known use of a rifle grenade was in the Russo-Japanese War at the Battle of Port Arthur in 1904, invented by Japanese Colonel Amazawa. The British later invented their own rifle grenade for the First World War, as did the French. The French model had a such a strong kick back, that soldiers preferred to put the butt of the rifle on the ground (or use a tripod) rather than fire it from their shoulders. By the Second World War, every side had their own version of a rifle grenade, including one of the first HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank) rounds invented by the British (the No. 68 AT grenade) and the German Propaganda-Gewehrgranate, which was a hollow rifle grenade filled with printed leaflets that could be fired at enemy positions.

One of the weapons we feature on our app is the VOG-25 (BOГ-25), a Russian launched grenade. To learn more about launched grenades download the EODynamics AB app and examine the VOG-25 in Augmented reality!