The Ukrainian Armed Forces uses 40-caliber Mark 19 automatic grenade launchers of American production. This was reported in the “Western” Operational Command. Grenade launchers arrived in Ukraine as part of security assistance from the United States.

Mobile groups in vehicles equipped with American Mark 19 automatic grenade launchers are already working in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and are fighting the Russian invaders. The supply of these weapons became known earlier this year.

It is only known that on February 3, Ukraine received 85 tons of 40-mm shots on automatic grenade launchers, which were delivered this year by the seventh American aircraft with military assistance. It is possible that the Mk 19 grenade launchers were supplied to the Armed Forces earlier, because 40-mm shots have repeatedly been part of the cargo of American aircraft, including in the autumn of 2021.

The Mk 19 grenade launcher (from Mark 19) is an American automatic machine grenade launcher with tape power for 40 × 53 mm ammunition. The Mark 19 has been in service with the US Army in various versions since the late 1960s. The Mk 19, unlike the one available in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, AGS-17 has a wider range of ammunition:

• regular M430 HEDP is multipurpose with fragment cumulative action (up to 50 mm armor-piercing steel punches and damage radius – 5 meters)
• part M383 and M384
• training M385

Each standard box contains 32 shots connected by M16A2 connections in one strip. The amendment transferred to Ukraine was made in the United States in the period from 1981 to 2000. The grenade launcher is also licensed in countries such as the Republic of Korea and Turkey. Source