Aviation Naval Warfare Land Systems Small Arms By Flag By Year By Tag

Type 06 AT

2006 MODERN

History

At the turn of the century, the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) evaluated the US M203 Under-Barrel Grenade Launcher (UGBL) and selected a local design and produced the rifle in his place grenade. Rifle grenades gained considerable service during World War II (1939-1945), and their designs were refined over the following decades.

These innovations ultimately lead to significant improvements in efficiency and accuracy on the battlefield, as well as improved field capabilities relative to existing service rifles - grenades do not require special mounting/launching equipment like previous iterations.

Work on this new weapon system began in 2002, and the "Type 06" is the result of the program, which was officially introduced at the JGSDF in 2006. The Type 06 requires no additional equipment other than a rifle to fire, is cheaper to manufacture than a stand-alone UBGL, and can be issued to regular lay infantry units in place of specially trained grenadier units.

The design of the weapon is under the responsibility of the Ground Research and Development Command (GRDC) of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, while the manufacturing is under the responsibility of Daikin Industries, Ltd. of the Defense Systems Division.