Army inks order for $10 million worth of Texas-made grenades

A soldier tosses a simulated M67 fragmentation hand grenade into a bunker during a training event at Fort Bragg, N.C., March 19, 2017 (Photo: DOD)

The US Army recently announced an order for more M67 fragmentation grenades from a Texas-based supplier.

The $10.4 million contract modification issued through the Army’s Rock Island Arsenal is to an original $10.7 million contract awarded to Day & Zimmermann in 2015 and includes delivery of more grenades as late as 2021. The work will be performed at the company’s Lone Star facility in Texarkana, Texas.

The M67, a classic “baseball” grenade in use since the Vietnam War, has been the standard frag in U.S. service for the past 50 years. Just 14-ounces in weight and 2.5-inches in diameter, it has a sheet steel body filled with 6.5-ounces of Composition B explosive and uses a 4-second pyrotechnic delay fuze.

(Photo: FAS)

Although the Army has been conducting research into what is termed the Enhanced Tactical Multi-Purpose hand grenade, which promises to be both electronically fused and ambidextrous with a top-mounted top-mounted pin for easy access by both lefties and righties, it has not been accepted for production, leaving the M67 to soldier on.

Day & Zimmermann has a number of munitions ventures including their American Ordnance subsidiary at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown, Iowa. The company formerly also ran the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant until it was deactivated.

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