US Army Unveils 3D-Printed Grenade Launcher Called RAMBO (ibtimes.co.uk)

New submitter drunkdrone quotes a report from International Business Times: The U.S. Military has a new firearm in its itinerary: Meet RAMBO, the 3D printed grenade launcher that could revolutionize the way soldiers are equipped for battle. RAMBO, or the Rapid Additively Manufactured Ballistics Ordnance to give it its proper name, is based on the U.S. Army's M203 underslung grenade launcher for firearms including the M16 and M4A1 carbine. But RAMBO is unique in that all of its parts save for the springs and fasteners have been produced by 3D printing -- and that includes the grenades themselves. The breech-loaded grenade launcher consists of 50 individual parts, the majority of which were developed through the additive manufacturing process. Additive manufacturing is a form of 3D printing whereby layers of material, commonly photopolymer resin, are printed on top of each other to create a 3D object. During testing, RAMBO successfully fired 15 shots without showing any sign of deterioration. The ammunition itself was also 3D printed, based on the M781 40mm training round. U.S. Army researchers selected this particular round because it doesn't require any explosive propellants, the use of which are have not been proved safe with 3D printed objects.

Comments

Yeah good taste

[Anonymous Coward]

Naming a weapon after a character who represents the worst things about the military.

Re:Yeah good taste

[DarkOx]

I work with a lot of veterans and I have a number of active duty friends, in various services. I can tell you exactly none of them would look to Rambo as role model for being a good soldier. Its also true that they are committed to defending this country, they have to be face death; so yes they enjoy a bit flag waving and they occasional phallic weapons system display. Finally names like this are fun, and they bring some levity to what otherwise would probably some hard stuff to carrier around mentally. I don't see anything wrong with it. In fact I think its a good thing for the rest of society.

We need to remember the reason you have a military is to kill people and break things. Its what they do at their core. Sometimes that is the only way to deal with people who don't like us and seek to cause us harm. Which is not say they can't be effective at delivering food stuffs and building sanitation systems when the situation calls for that but they might not actually be the best tool for that job. A chisel might work as a flat head screw driver but its not safe for the operator, not good the chisel, and has lots of potential to damage the surrounding work. We need to remember what the military is for and let that inform how we direct resources to it and where we deploy it for what tasks. Naming a grenade launcher something that clearly indicates what its for anti-personnel isn't really so bad.

Fantastic!

[Anonymous Coward]

Now we have yet more ways to kill each other.
Great news America.
Keep up the great humanitarian work.

The U.S. government is violent.

[Anonymous Coward]

The U.S. government is, by some measures, the most violent in the world. The violence makes money for all the contractors and sub-contractors, and makes the average citizen much poorer: How War Made The Bush Family Rich

Re:Every military man's worst nightmare

[Shoten]

Some kill-crazy sonofabitch off the chain and looking for body count.

How does one PROJECT this sort of thing without actually getting lost in it?

In essence, making the other dumb sonofabitch crap themselves for their country and not want to actually fight and die?

Scary naming conventions.

I don't know that I'd assign government-wide significance to this. At most, it was a small handful of people who gave it the name...it's not like the name went before Congress for ratification, after all. And as far as the "violence" aspect...for fuck's sake, it's a grenade launcher. It's a pretty violent device to begin with. :)

I think of it a bit more humorously, like this:

Maria Hill: What does S.H.I.E.L.D. stand for, Agent Ward?
        Grant Ward: Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
        Hill: And what does that mean to you?
        Ward: It means someone really wanted our initials to spell out "shield."