EmericD said:

Trying to shoot HE at a longer range than 400 m needs a significant increase of the launcher weight / sighting system / or a significant reduction of the grenade payload.

hm... there are methods to achieve the desired range increase without a significantly heavier grenade or more recoil impulse.

RAP! A rocket booster that fires after the grenade has been launched. It wouldn't have to be huge if the desired range increase is moderate. Like +150 m for 500 m range. Back in the day I read about projects for RAP rifle grenades but these have been about increasing the range for AT use of HEAT grenades. It should work for HE lobbing as well.

schnuersi said:

RAP! A rocket booster that fires after the grenade has been launched. It wouldn't have to be huge if the desired range increase is moderate. Like +150 m for 500 m range. Back in the day I read about projects for RAP rifle grenades but these have been about increasing the range for AT use of HEAT grenades. It should work for HE lobbing as well.

The 140 mm RAW was exactly that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifleman%27s_Assault_Weapon

Gduggins213 said:

Failing that, something like Big Dog or some other robot to serve as ammo carrier might alleviate the weight requirements and work equally well for tube launched grenades, rifle grenades and small mortars and recoilless weapons.   At most the soldier has to carry the weapon and a smaller quantity of ammo.   I imagine the robot could also carry heavier support weapons like a Gustaf.

Right.

People generally see 2 different kind of robotic vehicle, the "mule" on one side, developped to transport bags and the general furniture that soldiers need to transport, and the "terminator" on the other side, i.e. an armed robot, generally with a RWS.

But you could absolutely use a "mule" to carry a M2HB on a tripod, with ammo, and just have a soldier to fire the gun if needed.

Thank you, I hadn't realised how the French rifle grenade had been developed and optimised compared to the earlier designs.

PRM2 said:

Thank you, I hadn't realised how the French rifle grenade had been developed and optimised compared to the earlier designs.

Unfortunately, it seems that most rifle grenades manufacturers made large improvement of their products at a time when most Western armies stopped using this kind of device.

For example, FN Herstal "Bullet Thru" was an interesting product with a weight around 320 g, but did not meet a large commercial success.

Gduggins213 said:

I'd expect the need for suppressive fire also remain so having at least some troops equipped with rifles...

Rifles?  Why would you want to use rifles to meet the need for suppressive fire?  https://youtu.be/0V6l-kVX6u4?t=1

Emeric,

The sequence doesn't have to take a whole bunch longer and from what I'm seeing a lot of that functionality necessary to do so is already onboard the current ngsw FC.

Technically speaking with the existing ngsw FC so long as a set of sensors tied into your squad's data network has "eyes on" your target it can be designated by someone whose not you, show up as a discrete target option in your ui, and take offboard cuing which your sights ballistic computer will crunch and adjust the reticle for.

There's an awful lot of what will make or break these systems that's in the UI, networking specifics, and other things we don't normally think of with reference to small arms or small unit tactics.

We're on the cusp of having what are essentially aegis infantry formations where the shooter doesn't necessarily have to get HIS DESIGNATOR to laze before he can engage. Instead he just needs A DESIGNATOR to do so and for his systems to know where he is in relation to both the target and the offboard designator.

roguetechie said:

We're on the cusp of having what are essentially aegis infantry formations where the shooter doesn't necessarily have to get HIS DESIGNATOR to laze before he can engage. Instead he just needs A DESIGNATOR to do so and for his systems to know where he is in relation to both the target and the offboard designator.

I totally understand the possibilities and interest of collaborative combat, because that's exactly the core of the SCORPION program. All those new vehicles (Griffon, Jaguar, Serval, Leclerc XLR...) are designed around this concept (sensor fusion and sharing the data around all the vehicles).

Collaborative combat was also the basis of the FELIN program, soldiers being able to share the video flux from their sight in real time.

Be assured that there are some drawbacks and limitations to this concept. 

EmericD said:

The 140 mm RAW was exactly that:

Have been thinking about it.
Was it really a rifle grenade with a rocket booster. All I could find seems to suggest it was a rifle launched rocket.

I was really thinking about a standard rifle grenade like the one on the picture you posted (what type is it? AVAP40?) only with a little rocket motor/booster in the shaft to accelerate it a little more once launched by a rifle in the traditional way.

The RAW isn't really a rifle grenade. I'd describe it more as a quick detach rifle fired RPG launcher.

Reason being that it features a dedicated 'launcher' device that clips onto the rifle and fires the RPG bowling ball of doom.

Capabilities are also more in line with that of a RPG or Recoiless Rifle; the air burst anti personell version seems quite spectacular:

The original model had a 3lb (1.36kg) HESH warhead but in later models this was reduced to 1kg. This round could blow a 36cm (14”) diameter hole in 20cm (8”) of double reinforced concrete. A later development was MuliPurpose Munition or MPM-RAW, a pre-fragmented anti-personnel/anti-material round using tungsten pellets and know as the “Flying Claymore”. This had five to ten times the effective range and lethality of a 40x46mm grenade and was fitted with a variable range and height-of-burst fusing for both direct fire and indirect fire to 2000m. Trials indicated 81% casualty hits out to at least a 35m radius. MPM-RAW also retained 90% of the breaching capability of the HESH-RAW. There were also versions with HEAT or EFP warheads with a laser proximity fuse designed to detonate the round at correct standoff distance. With the proximity fuse switched off the Anti-tank round could be used as a HE round. The large 40 cubic inch capacity of the warhead could also be used to carry useful loads of fillings such as smoke, CS or incendiary compounds.