RDD WP GRENADE M
Media
Part of Philippine Armed Forces Journal
- Title
- RDD WP GRENADE M
- Language
- English
- Source
- Philippine Armed Forces Journal Volume IX (No. 6) July 1956
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- PHILIPPI NES ARMED FORCES JOURNAL nade fire. The weapon is also employed to produce smoke for cover. ing tactical movements of small field lowed forever if we expect to sur units; to burn enemy material in vive, deserve the respect of othet· their hideouts, and to serve as idenpeop\e and enjoy the blessings of tification signal for targets of the liberty with dignity. It is for this Air Force and other friendly sup. reason that the Research and Devel- porting units. opment Division, AFP, exists. Des- All the parts that compost! this pite its very limited appropriation grenade are \(l(al\y made except the fot· supplies and equipment, the per. primer and the WP filler. It is sisonnel of this Division are striving milar to the U.S. Army WP grehard to create, develop and produce nade in outside appearance and diweapons, among other things of va- mension but the powder train is en- Tor' lue, that could contribute to the se· tirely different. The burster charge curity of our country. is prepared by the ROD based on As officer-in-charge of some spe- the chemical formula of Col. Floren. cia\ projects, this writer was granted cio A. Medina, Chief of the ROD. clearance and authority by the Chief, The tlelay fuse, design of the casing RDD to present in this article one and burster are the products of creaof the finished projects of this of- tive researches of the project off[. fice. This finished weapon is ready cers. Manufacture of the sample mo for field use and its manufacture in de\s is done with the help of the per. quantity for field units could be done sonnel of the ROD machine shop. Mr. upon request through proper chan. Vicente Zamora, Jr. made the alunels. minum casings free of charge. The weapon is a grenade, a smoke, The grenade weighs one pound. It incendiary and casualty-producin~; has a detonating fuse of 4 to 5 se weapon. On exploding, the solid conds delay. It could easily be pieces of WP are scattered over an hurled by an average soldier to a area of about 25 yards radius and distance of 30 to 40 yards. burn for approximately one minute, producing thick white smoke. The The accomplishment of this pro weapon is used at close range against ject was hastened by th(' grouping enemy personnel, especially weapon of the ROD personnel into research crews or other small groups so lo· and support groups by Lt. Col. Macated that they are protected from riano T. Hidalgo when he was Act. rifle fire but are within the mini- ing Chief, RDD.