Vietnam Develops 40mm Counter-UAS Net Grenade

Vietnam has presented a new 40mm munition apparently designed to counter small UAVs using a net.

The munition was featured in the documentary “Dưới cánh tên lửa” (“Under the Missile’s Wing”), published on September 18 by QPVN, the official television channel of Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defence.

The footage shows a series of 40mm munitions and their components. One of the rounds has an elongated body, while a folded net structure with metal elements is displayed next to it.
Its operating principle involves deploying a net near the target to engage the drone’s propellers or fuselage and cause it to lose control.

QPVN itself does not provide any specific technical characteristics or the munition’s official designation on the narrative’s webpage. Therefore, its identification specifically as an anti-drone grenade is currently based on an analysis of the footage shown.

Munition for OPL-40

According to an assessment by Vietnamese military analyst T-54BVT, the new grenade could be fired from Vietnam’s OPL-40 40mm grenade launchers. A distinctive feature of their design is the ability to swing the barrel open sideways, allowing them to load rounds that are longer than those compatible with some grenade launchers with longitudinally opening barrels.

The OPL-40M is a Vietnamese under-barrel grenade launcher chambered for 40×46mm ammunition. It can be mounted on STV-series assault rifles, including the STV-380. Vietnamese sources list the launcher’s unloaded weight at 1.4 kg.

Thus, the elongated anti-drone munition could potentially expand the range of specialized grenades available for launchers already in service with the Vietnamese military, without requiring the development of a dedicated weapon.

The emergence of a specialized 40mm grenade highlights another approach to countering low-cost small UAVs: developing inexpensive munitions for infantry weapons that can complement conventional air defense and EW systems.

Ukraine is also developing modifications of domestically produced net launchers. In April, Ptashka Drones presented the Ptashka 2.0 net launcher, an updated version of its handheld device for intercepting UAVs.