An Israeli firm is offering to the U.S. Army a new quick-release Grenade Trigger Pouch designed to give soldiers one-handed and quick access to fragmentation and flash-bang grenades.
Until now, "you had to use something like the same grenade pouch your grandfather used in World War II," said Nir Shaul, founder and CEO of ACS Ltd. Industries based in Tel Aviv.
He said the firm had delivered several hundred of the Grenade Trigger Pouches to the Israeli Defense Forces and counter-terrorism units for testing and was also negotiating with U.S. Special Operations Command for testing.
"It's faster to use and safer to carry," he said at the ACS booth at the annual convention and exhibition of the Association of the U.S. Army in Washington Monday.
According to ACS, the Grenade Trigger Pouch has five separate security measures to protect the grenade's spoon and ring for carrying and also allows for a one-handed, double-click release that will allow soldiers to get access to the grenade six times faster than with a traditional pouch.
Nirtal said the pouches, which should market for about $50 apiece, were designed to address a long-time safety issue with grenades. "Unfortunately, there are dozens of accidents every year involving grenades," he said.
"The solution we developed is the only one of its kind in the world -- enabling secure carrying and quick, safe, one-handed grenade extraction and detonation," he said.
ACS is headed by the owners of Nirtal Training Combat Equipment, Ltd., and the Team 3 Group, two companies employing about 6,500 people in the security field.
-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com
