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Khertland Automatic Grenadier Type 1

The Khertland Platoon consists of four squad with the exception of the paratroopers which consist of three squads. Squad sizes vary based on unit types as the vehicles operated can vary widely in passenger seating. However except for the military police, one of these squads is a 'weapons squad' and regardless of the type of infantry, they will always have two automatic grenadiers each assisted by a assistant grenadier.

The Khertland army prior to the AC1 ARGL was purely rifle squads and noticed the FR2M1 squad automatic rifles were not providing the level of sustained fire as desired as it was essentially a longer and heavier version of the service rifle being issued. At the same time, the army was also extremely unsatisfied with the accuracy of its infantry anti-tank weapons. Instead the underslung 40mm grenade launcher was well received even capable of dealing with lightly armored vehicles.
This led to the army wanting a rapid fire grenade launcher that can provide the long range suppressive fire role. The original proposal was a revolver type weapon system but its lack of sustained fire was considered a problem. A tripod mounted belt fed automatic grenade launcher (AGL) was not accepted as the army wanted to maintain mobility without need of setting up any of its heavy weapons. Essentially the army wanted a heavy weapons that could be fired from the shoulder and moved by one person.
These requirements were difficult to meet but it was decided a AGL was the best option as a potent anti-vehicular and anti-infantry weapon with a high rate of fire and suppressive effect. Range could be improved by utilizing medium-pressure grenade extending a platoon's engagement range up to 1.5 km, completely overmatching potential opponents. However the recoil was decidedly heavy and so a recoilless system was devised to make it possible to be shoulder fired. This would eliminate the need for a tripod and thus maintain tactical mobility. Overall the weapon was a heavy system but not to an extent it could not be carried by one person. Efforts to reduce weight meant a heavy use of lightweight polymers and alloys. In the end, non-essential kit (for the role) was simply removed off the automatic grenadier to compensate.
The army was more than pleased with the final result and accepted it into service.

The automatic grenadier makes up the bulk of a platoon's firepower by utilizing the AC1M2 Automatic Recoilless Grenade Launcher. ARGL for short and thus troops simply calls it the 'argle.' The AC1 ARGL is a select-fire belt-fed gas operated system utilizing a long-stroke gas piston fired from a closed bolt. When a round is fired, some of the gases escape from the perforated casing, through a ring port, and piped around the receiver and redirected into the back. This largely negates the recoil of the weapon which fires medium pressure grenades, but in exchange there is back blast albeit a comparatively smaller danger area than RPGs. The remaining gases enters the gas port and the expanding gases pushes the gas piston back.
The gas pistons unlocks the bolt by moving back in which it gets locked in place with the bolt via a sprung notch. This causes the bolt to move backwards with the piston, pulling the empty casing, and ejects it. The bolt continues to move back and after a slight delay, engages the puller block and removes a new round from the non-disintegrating belt. Once the puller block and bolt assembly is fully retracted, it clears the cartridge carrier which lifts the round up reminiscent to a ramp. A similar mechanism to ones seen in pump-action shotguns. The puller block is locked in place by a latch. The spring in the gas piston pushes the bolt forward which chambers the next round on the cartridge carrier. As the bolt moves forward, it cams a lever arm which releases the latch locking the puller block. The puller block is sprung and moves back forward and is ready to pull the next round out of the belt. Meanwhile, once the bolt is closed, the notch locking the gas piston and bolt together is depressed allowing the gas piston to continue moving forward and locking the bolt via a cam mechanism.

When the bolt moves backwards, it c0cks the hammer resetting the trigger mechanism for the next cycle. For fully automatic fire and semi-automatic fire, the weapon uses a double sear mechanism with a disconnector that can be engaged for fully automatic, disengaged for semi-automatic, and rotated further still to completely block the second sear from moving and thus acting as a safety.

The system fires 40mm medium pressure grenades at 200 rounds per minute. The automatic grenadier carries a box with a 50 round belt. 100 more rounds are carried by the assistant grenadier with two boxes on his/her back. The HE-F grenades has a lethal radius of 13m while the HEAT can penetrate up to 51mm of RHA. The weapon system with its minimal recoil system can be shoulder fired fully automaticly but due to the weapons system's 18 kg weight, it is preferred to be fired from its bipod. This is especially true as the 50 round belt weights nearly as much as the weapon itself at 17 kg. Due to the back blast, when firing from a prone position, the grenadier lies perpendicular to the direction the firearm is pointed at.
For self defense, the automatic grenadier is issued a SP1M1 semi-automatic pistol with only one magazine.

The AC1M2 ARGL comes with a integrated thermal vision system and laser rangefinder. The onboard miniature fire control computer can adjust for range, inclination, wind, humidity, air pressure, barrel and air temperature to ensure the grenades land on target. The optic/fire control can also support programmable fuzes switching between proximity, timed air burst, nose impact or delayed base fuze. To comfortably use the system at night, the automatic grenadier is issued a monocular NVG as to not interfere with utilizing the weapon system's built in optic system.

Basic specifications:
Cost: 19,124
Blocks: 150
Weight: 4,079
Volume: 162 cubic meter
Length: 8m
(actual)
Width: 6m (actual)
Height: 6m (actual)
Speed: 3 m/s

Armaments:
AC1M2 ARGL or known as the "Argle"
SP1M1 Pistol

Conceptual inspirations:
Mk 115 autocannon, Rheinmetall RMK30 autocannon, QLZ-87 grenade launcher, Norinco QLU-11 Grenade launcher, and the Barrett XM109
Mechanical inspirations:
Mk 115 autocannon, M60 machinegun, Remington 870 shotgun