The GM-94 (Russian: Гранатомет Магазинный образца 1994, Granatomet Magazinnyy obraztsa 1994, lit. "magazine-fed grenade launcher, model of 1994") is a pump actiongrenade 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.
[3]
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,[4][5] 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 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.[4]
In June 2005, GM-94 with thermobaric VGM-93.100 ammunition was adopted by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.[6] In October 2007, the Russian armed forces adopted the launcher designated as LPO-97 (Legkiy Pekhotnyy Ognemet; Легкий Пехотный Огнемет; ‘light infantry flamethrower’)[3] developed in the KBP Instrument Design Bureau on the basis of the GM-94 with a thermobaric grenade,[3][7] in 2008 GM-94 was adopted for the branches of the Federal Security Service.[8] The weapon was used in the battle of Nalchik in 2005 and in Crimea 2014.[9] 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.[2]
Russian forces have used this weapon to fire non-lethal tear gas grenades on protesters in Ukraine in March 2022.[10]
^Ferguson, Jonathan; Jenzen-Jones, N.R. (November 2014). Raising Red Flags: An Examination of Arms & Munitions in the Ongoing Conflict in Ukraine, 2014. Research Report 3. Armament Research Services. p. 26. ISBN978-0-9924624-3-7.