North Dakota Officials Hunting for ‘Dangerous’ Lost US Air Force Grenades

The grenades were contained on a belt of ammunition for an automatic grenade launcher. The green metal shells are about 18.5 in long, 14.5 in high and 8.5 in wide.

Ten days after the grenades were reported lost on May 4 there is still no sign the search is over, as a group of around 100 airmen traversed the six-mile path multiple times on Friday and came back with nothing. The phrase "‘almost' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades" probably does not apply to these particular launcher grenades, which Mountrail County Sheriff Ken Halverson has called "dangerous." He's requested that anyone in the public with information about the explosives to contact his office.

The grenades reportedly fell off of a Humvee and are meant to be used with a MK19 machine gun grenade launcher.

​The grenades are specific to US Air Force launchers and will not operate in any other devices without bringing "catastrophic failure," Halverson said, according to the Air Force Times. That means if you find them, don't get any ideas about sticking them in a potato cannon. They're only safe so long as the container, which weighs about 40lbs, remains intact and undamaged, according to Lt. Col. Jamie Humphries, a spokesman at the Minot Air Force Base, which is just a few towns over from Parshall, said.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations is also reportedly offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads them to the recovery of the grenades.