Mk 19

The standard U.S. belt-fed 40 mm automatic grenade launcher — a crew-served, advanced-primer-ignition blowback weapon that delivers high-velocity grenade fire against personnel and light armor out to 2,200 m, and has appeared in every major U.S. deployment since the Gulf War.

Overview

The Mk 19 40 mm Grenade Machine Gun, principally in its MOD 3 variant, is a belt-fed, open-bolt automatic grenade launcher that fires the 40×53 mm high-velocity ammunition family. It provides infantry squads and mounted troops with sustained, high-explosive suppressive fire against personnel, light armored vehicles, and area targets. The weapon is built for mounting on tripods, wheeled and tracked vehicles, naval platforms, and remote-weapon stations, and it has been the U.S. military’s standard heavy automatic grenade launcher since the 1980s.

Development

Development of a fully automatic 40 mm belt-fed grenade launcher began in the late 1960s, building on the manually cranked Mk 18 Mod 0. Early prototype Mk 19 Mod 0 weapons saw limited use in Vietnam, and the design evolved through Mod 1 and Mod 2 configurations. The definitive Mk 19 MOD 3 entered production in the 1980s and became the service-standard weapon, manufactured by Saco Defense (later absorbed into General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems) and U.S. Ordnance NavWeaps. The MOD 3 incorporated improvements to the bolt, feed mechanism, and reliability that enabled its wide adoption across U.S. ground, vehicle, and naval forces.

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