During the Vietnam War, the newly formed "SEALs" unit of the U.S. Navy also participated in this operation, they are generally carried out in platoons as a team, due to the mission, they do not carry too much heavy **, M79 grenade launcher can play a good role, but some members feedback that this ** has a shorter range and needs to be continuous**, so a lightweight, continuous grenade launcher is needed.
Around 1968, the U.S. Naval Ordnance Research Center in China Lake, in accordance with the needs of the United States, developed a rocket artillery, which was later sent to the Vietnam battlefield for combat tests, and the military also obtained several units, because they had not yet received the official code name, so they were nicknamed "China Lake" by the soldiers.
The shape of the "China Lake" rifle resembles a large pull-out shotgun, which can carry 40 * 46 mm bullets one by one in the barrel, and the magazine can hold three bullets, one bullet each, that is, one "China Lake" can hold four bullets in a combat state.
China Lake "is a kind of ** similar to a twitch shotgun, the muzzle is a shotgun similar to the Hunter, the muzzle is an automatic sight similar to the M79, between 75-400 meters, in this state it can reach a rate of fire of 76 m s, and up to 400 m s. An experienced archer can fire the remaining three bullets at the same time before the first bullet has time to hit the target, increasing the ability to suppress the target.
Due to the use of a large amount of aluminum alloy material, the weight of such a launcher is only 372 kg, weight 4 after loading63 kg with a barrel length of 875 mm and a barrel length of 356 mm. The small size and weight are very suitable for special forces to carry out tasks in the deep rear area, which also makes the SEAL team highly rated.
But "China Lake" also has its own shortcomings, that is, this thrust design is not suitable for 40 * 46 mm bullets, which is a very bulky **, and sometimes only two bullets can be loaded at a time, and the bullets cannot be loaded at all, and the 40 * 46 mm bullets have made the soldiers more and more unsatisfied, they must have a large-caliber shotgun.
There has always been a debate about how many "China Lakes" were built, some say it was No. 16, some say it was No. 22, in short, very little, and it was not mass-produced, only one is kept in a museum in Vietnam, in addition, other "China Lake" has also been copied.
Due to the end of the Vietnam War, the United States stopped improving it, however, this does not mean a complete end, in the 80s, the United States developed a rocket called EX41, also known as "China Lake Natic", its designers modified the 40 mm caliber shell, expected to reach a maximum distance of 1500 m, using optical sights for shooting, but at that time people were not optimistic about the new rocket launcher, and in the end it was not implemented.