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MK 19 Grenade Launcher Unleashed During Surge In Ramadi
Published 3 years ago
Video reportedly filmed in Ramadi, Iraq in 2007 shows a combat outpost (COP) guard tower position using a MK19 grenade launching machine gun to support a larger operation outside the wire by firing explosive suppression into specified sectors.
The footage possibly shows tower guards of 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regimen, 3rd Infantry Division acting in support of an offensive in East Ramadi, known as Operation Murfreesboro, as part of the greater "Surge." The operation was intended to drive al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) forces out of certain areas in order to cordon off entire districts with concrete barriers so secure administrative areas could be created.
The MK19 40mm machine gun is an air-cooled, disintegrating metallic link-belt fed, blowback operated, fully automatic weapon that fires various 40mm grenades, including the M430 HEDP 40mm grenade that will pierce armor up to two inches thick, and has a blast kill radius of five meters, and a maximum range of 2,212 meters. In a bind, operators of the MK19 can use the weapon as an indirect fire system, filling the role of a mortar, in which the rounds are fired at a high angle allowing them to engage enemy behind cover and at higher elevations than the friendly units.
