ARMY NEWS
JUST IN: Company Lands Army Contract for First Simulated Grenades (UPDATED)
4/15/2026
By Stew Magnuson
Stew Magnuson photo
LONDON — A Florida small business has landed a $21 million contract with the Army to provide it with a family of simulated proximity explosive weapons such as hand grenades and Claymore mines.
Even though grenades have existed in one form or another for centuries, the service previously had no way to safely replicate their use in live force-on-force training, said Christopher Chambers, founder and CEO of Oviedo, Florida-based Serious Simulations.
At the National Training Center, “the official grenade is a [Meal, Ready-to-Eat] bag partially filled with sand, rolled up, taped and they put a chem light on,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the ITEC conference in London on April 15.
That might be a good way to repurpose the plastic MRE containers, but the most advanced military in the world had nothing to simulate a grenade in live training.
The Army recently awarded Serious Simulations a $21 million production contract for 30,000 units from its family of products that simulate grenades and other proximity weapons such as Claymore mines, shoulder-fired weapons and one-way attack drones.
The Army initially did not have a requirement for simulated proximity weapons, but once it learned about the company’s concept, it kicked off two and a half years of testing and refinement, Chambers said.
As for the grenades, there are two types. One can be used for force-on-force training. It has a rubber coating for safety and weighs a few ounces less than a real grenade. The other has the exact weight and look of a real grenade that can be used on ranges where they’re not being tossed at other soldiers.
Both, when activated, emit signals that can determine whether the intended victim or target was wounded or killed.
The signal calculates the damage based not only on how close the simulated explosion was to the victim, but also their surroundings. For example, it can tell whether the targeted person was standing behind a brick wall, a bush, or something as flimsy as drywall.
After detonating, it has a flash and emits an explosion sound to let trainees know it went off near them. It can communicate to the vest commonly used in training that tells its wearer whether they have been killed or wounded and are out of the exercise. It also transmits the data to an organizer’s tablet so they can gather information on accuracy and provide feedback, Chambers said.
The second version has the exact look and weight of a real grenade and can be used anywhere for practicing throws. Currently, practice tosses must be done on a range with restrictions, but with the Serious Simulations grenade, the user can set up a dummy or any target in any open field. It comes with a speaker to simulate the explosion and also provides data to the trainers on the thrower’s accuracy, Chambers said.
Throwing a grenade takes a lot of training, and soldiers usually only throw one live grenade during basic training. It’s a nerve-wracking experience holding a live explosive in a hand, he said.
“They do one in basic training. The second time they pull a pin shouldn’t be in combat seven years later,” he said.
CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this story did not initially make clear that previous practice grenades currently used cannot be thrown at participants during live training.
Topics: Armaments, Defense Contracting
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