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U.S. Army Approves New M111 Offensive Hand Grenade Designed for Close-Quarters Urban Combat.
The U.S. Army approved the M111 Offensive Hand Grenade for Full Material Release on March 10, 2026, introducing a modern close-combat munition designed for confined urban environments. The new grenade replaces the long-serving Mk3A2 series and reflects lessons learned from urban warfare, aiming to improve lethality while reducing risk to friendly forces.
On March 10, 2026, the U.S. Army approved the M111 Offensive Hand Grenade for Full Material Release, introducing a new close-combat munition specifically designed to increase lethality and safety in confined urban environments. Developed by the Capabilities Program Executive Office Ammunition and Energetics in partnership with the DEVCOM Armaments Center at Picatinny Arsenal, the new grenade replaces the aging Mk3A2 series and represents the first newly approved lethal U.S. Army hand grenade since 1968. The decision directly addresses lessons learned from urban combat operations while providing infantry units with a more specialized tool for room-clearing operations and close-quarters engagements. The program is intended to improve operational readiness while reducing risks associated with legacy grenade designs.
The U.S. Army has approved the M111 Offensive Hand Grenade for full release, introducing a modern blast-focused munition designed to replace the aging Mk3A2 and improve safety and effectiveness in urban close-quarters combat (Picture Source: U.S. Army)
The M111’s approval marks a major milestone in the modernization of the Army’s close combat munitions inventory. For more than five decades, the Mk3A2 offensive grenade filled this role, but its asbestos-containing body increasingly limited its operational use and raised safety concerns. The M111 replaces this outdated design with a modern plastic body that is completely consumed during detonation, eliminating hazardous residue and simplifying handling and storage requirements. This change allows the Army to retire a legacy munition whose materials no longer meet modern safety and environmental standards while restoring a fully usable offensive grenade capability for combat units. The development effort was carried out at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, a historic center for U.S. Army armaments innovation.
Beyond materials improvements, the M111 introduces a significant tactical shift in how hand grenades are used during close combat. Unlike fragmentation grenades that rely on lethal metal fragments to neutralize targets, the M111 focuses on blast overpressure to defeat enemy personnel in enclosed spaces. In urban fighting environments such as buildings, tunnels, or fortified rooms, blast overpressure can deliver devastating effects while being less dependent on fragment travel paths that may be disrupted by walls, furniture, or structural obstacles. This makes the grenade particularly suited for room-clearing operations where fragmentation effects may be unpredictable or hazardous to friendly forces operating nearby.
The operational rationale behind the new grenade reflects lessons drawn from intense urban fighting during the Iraq War. According to Col. Vince Morris, Project Manager for Close Combat Systems within the Capabilities Program Executive Office Ammunition and Energetics, fragmentation grenades such as the M67 were not always ideal for door-to-door fighting because fragments could penetrate walls or rebound unpredictably inside confined spaces. A blast-overpressure-based grenade can neutralize enemy fighters within a room while reducing the risk to friendly troops positioned outside the structure or in adjacent rooms. As a result, the Army envisions a complementary approach in which fragmentation grenades remain the preferred option for open terrain while the M111 is used in enclosed environments where blast effects are tactically advantageous.
The M111 program also emphasizes training consistency and logistical efficiency across the Army’s grenade inventory. Both the M111 combat grenade and its training version, the M112, share the same five-step arming process used by the M67 fragmentation grenade and its training counterpart, the M69. They also use the same fuzes, allowing the Army to leverage existing manufacturing lines and simplify supply chain management. According to Army officials, this commonality enables soldiers to “train as they fight,” reducing the learning curve associated with new equipment while maintaining familiarity with established procedures. At the same time, shared components allow acquisition officials to reduce procurement costs through economies of scale.
Another notable aspect of the program is the use of government-owned intellectual property for the grenade design. This approach allows the Army to compete future production contracts across multiple manufacturers within the defense industrial base rather than relying on a single supplier. Such flexibility is increasingly important as the Pentagon seeks to strengthen munitions production capacity and ensure resilient supply chains. By maintaining control over the technical data package, the Army can encourage competition while ensuring consistent performance standards across production lots.
For the U.S. Army’s infantry forces, the introduction of the M111 represents a targeted modernization effort aimed at improving effectiveness in one of the most demanding combat environments: dense urban terrain. As military planners increasingly anticipate operations in cities and complex built-up areas, the ability to employ specialized munitions tailored to confined spaces becomes critical. By combining improved safety, modern materials, standardized training procedures, and a blast-overpressure lethality concept, the M111 provides soldiers with a more adaptable tool for close-quarters combat while replacing an obsolete grenade that has remained largely unchanged since the Cold War era.