Rheinmetall Lands $99m Smoke-Screen Grenade Order

American Rheinmetall Munitions has secured a $99 million contract to supply the U.S. Army with infrared smoke-screening vehicle-launched grenades.

Details of the contract were published recently on the U.S. Department of Defence (DoD) website. The deal won by the Stafford, Virginia-based American subsidiary is for an undefined number of 66mm vehicle-launched grenades, to be delivered by the end of September 2029.

As per the Rheinmetall website, its Maske multi-spectral smoke grenade "significantly reduces the probability of enemy hits by interrupting the line of sight in the visual and infrared spectrum.

"It protects combat vehicles from visual and infrared observation, aiming equipment, sensor-guided weapons, laser illuminators, beamriders and laser rangefinders."

It said field trials had consistently demonstrated the jamming, screening and obscuring effectiveness of the multispectral ammunition concept, which entailed a rapid-reaction jamming module producing intense over-radiation coupled with a long-duration module producing visual and infrared screening smoke.

The firm's Maske product family includes other 66mm, 76mm and 81/81 mm grenades, as well as the U.S. MK 1 66mm variant.

• You can read details of the contract on the U.S. DoD website and more about the grenades on the Rheinmetall website.