The GM-94 (, lit. "magazine-fed grenade launcher, model of 1994") is a pump action grenade launcher for use by Russian special and security forces. Development of the GM-94 grenade launcher began in 1993, under the guidance of Vasilij Gryazev, chief designer of the KBP design bureau (Konstruktorskoye Byuro Priborostroyeniya; (Конструкторское Бюро Приборостроения; KBP), in Tula, Russia.
Description The GM-94 is a short range weapon, allowing it to be used in close urban environments. With a minimum safe distance of only 10 meters, the GM-94 is well suited to close, room-to-room fighting. Its simple design and operation allows it to operate in dusty and dirty environments and even after being immersed in water.
The launcher is capable of firing VGM-93.900 high explosive fragmentation, VGM-93.100 thermobaric, VGM-93.300 smoke and VGM-93.200 tear gas canisters, VGM-93.600 rubber slugs and other non-lethal payloads.
The VGM-93.100 thermobaric grenade contains around 160 grams of explosive filler. It can penetrate up to 8 mm of mild steel or interior wall with its blast, while producing minimal primary fragmentation.
History In June 2005, GM-94 with thermobaric VGM-93.100 ammunition was adopted by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. In October 2007, the Russian armed forces adopted the launcher designated as LPO-97 (Legkiy Pekhotnyy Ognemet; Легкий Пехотный Огнемет; ‘light infantry flamethrower’) developed in the KBP Instrument Design Bureau on the basis of the GM-94 with a thermobaric grenade, in 2008 GM-94 was adopted for the branches of the Federal Security Service. The weapon was used in the battle of Nalchik in 2005 and in Crimea 2014.Maxim Popenker and NR Jenzen-Jones, The Russian GM-94 Grenade Launcher, ARES Armament Research Services, Munitions Brief No. 2, September 2015 Though the launcher was initially intended for use by Russian security forces, the GM-94 has been spotted as far afield as Kazakhstan, where it is in service with the Kazakhstani paramilitary police tactical unit Sunkar ("Hawk") and in the hands of non-state combatants during the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime in Libya 2011.
Russian forces have used this weapon to fire non-lethal tear gas grenades on protesters in Ukraine in March 2022.
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