Norinco LG5 / QLU-11

The LG5 (PLAGF military designation: QLU-11 or QLU-131) is a semi-automatic grenade launcher developed by Norinco and introduced in 2011. The launcher's designation "QLU" stands for "light weapon (Qīng Wŭqì) - grenade (Liúdàn) - sniper (Jūjī)" in Chinese military coding standard.

Description
The LG5/QLU-11 can be equipped with free-floating barrel, a fire-control system with a laser rangefinder, thermal imaging capability, and a ballistic computer that gives it air burst capability. The QLU-11 was tested in combat against Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden by Chinese marines. The LG5/QLU-11 is designed for long-range use and so has been described as a "sniper" grenade launcher.

Befitting that designation, it is said to have a very high accuracy of 3-round R100 accuracy of 1 m at 600 m range, meaning that with proper aiming the weapon can put three successive high-explosive rounds into a typical window or door. Its development was inspired by the American Barrett XM109 anti-materiel rifle, which fires 25 × 59 mm grenades, and its design is based on the Chinese HSARI LR2 .50 caliber anti-material rifle.

QLU-11 utilizes a new Type 11 precision cartridge that is derived from the DFJ-87 armor-piercing grenade. The lighter casing reduces the ammunition weight from 217 g to 200 g. Propellant takes a larger percentage of the cartridge space, thus improving the velocity to 320 m/s (from 195 m/s).This modification greatly increases the recoil, which QLU-11 features advanced primer ignition (API) blowback, a large muzzle brake, floating receiver, and two sets of buffer mechanism inside the stock and optics rail mounts to mitigate.

To ensure the long-range accuracy, the electro-optical sight system with built-in fire control system is standard issue for the QLU-11. The daylight scope is designated QMD-131, while the night vision version is designated QMV-131. Both scopes feature in-scope HUD, a laser rangefinder, temperature sensor, ammo selection, ballistic calculated reticle, elevation angle sensor, inclination angle sensor, drift correction sensor, self-diagnosis software. The effective range is 1,000 m for daylight scope and 800 m for night vision scope.

LG5

 * BGJ5 high-explosive, dual-purpose (HEDP) sniper grenade, 40×53mm
 * BGL3 high-explosive precision grenade, 40×53mm
 * BGL3A programmable airburst grenade, 40×53mm
 * BGH1 high-explosive incendiary grenade, 40×53mm
 * BGR1 incendiary grenade, 40×53mm
 * BGS1 training grenade, 40×53mm

QLU-11

 * Type 11 high speed precision cartridge
 * Type 11 programmable airburst cartridge

Variants
There are two variants of the weapon, an export version and a domestic version:
 * LG5: Export 40x53 mm version. Fires 40×53mm HV NATO grenades or 40x53mm BGJ-5 grenades
 * QLU-11: Domestic 35x32 mm SR version. Fires 35x32mm SR grenades

Users

 * 🇨🇳 China
 * 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia