When fighting in close combat on the battlefield it is difficult to insure ones safety while advancing. The enemy will no doubt unleash a barrage of gunfire, as well as well placed mortar rounds all around your advancement. Your team will use all sorts of trained tactics to over come these things, with special teams and special weapons. Hand-grenades are a tool that the modern day soldier can use and is often a favorable weapon indeed. But you can only throw it so far and thus your enemy need not worry about such things until you get close. If you stand up to use your whole body to throw it further using all the human kinetic energy, forward motion, muscle twitch and adrenaline possible you are liable to be shot, before you can throw it. If you do not throw it far enough you have wasted it and perhaps too easily given a better pinpoint of your position. It has been proposed recently by a think tanker (me) that the US Military needs to have flying and steerable hand grenades for the US Marine Corp and the United States Army. Small hand thrown hand grenades, which power up and propel them selves towards the enemy like a rocket propelled grenade without the firing unit. Envisioned are hand grenades where expandable wings pop out and inflate and a little rocket motor ignites and it flies towards the enemy. In route it will be steered from a foxhole or safe refuge. Think on this in 2006. |
