Chaff grenade



Chaff grenades are a miniature chaff dispenser.

Operation and function
Chaff consists of small aluminum strips that are specifically designed to confuse radar frequencies, and normally used by aircraft to fool missile radar. The individual strips are cut in such a way that they wreak havoc with radar's transmitted frequencies. The chaff grenade is a combination of a wide-dispersal system for such strips and an electronic jamming system similar in effect to a magnetic pulse; it fools most electronic devices in the current room, including security cameras, radios, and some types of UAV.

Usage
By the 1960s, the Soviets managed to design chaff grenades. FOX operative Naked Snake procured some during both the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater.

During the San Hieronymo Takeover, Big Boss's resistance unit procured some chaff grenades.

During the Peace Walker Incident in 1974, the Militaires Sans Frontieres managed to procure some design specs for the chaff grenade after meeting up with Huey Emmerich.

During the Shadow Moses incident, Solid Snake used chaff grenades to disrupt an M1 tank and Metal Gear REX's targeting abilities, opening a window of opportunity in which to attack them.

Solid Snake managed to procure some chaff grenades while sneaking onboard the U.S.S. Discovery tanker to take photographs of the Metal Gear RAY prototype. Two years later, Raiden managed to procure some, and used them to fight the Metal Gear RAYs guarding Arsenal Gear.

Behind the scenes
Chaff grenades first appear in Metal Gear Solid. Along with disabling electonic equipment, they can also interfere with radio signals and prevent enemies from calling in reinforcements temporarily. In Metal Gear Solid 3, chaff grenades are implied to be of Soviet origin, and can be used to disrupt Colonel Volgin's electrical field during Naked Snake's battle against him. If the player detonates a chaff grenade in front of TNT or radios, the red lights on each of them will start to flash rainbow colors. Something similar occurs in Portable Ops.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Chaff grenades are a very limited and a hard-to-find weapon in Metal Gear Solid 4. They can be found in 5 locations in the game:


 * Act 1, Advent Palace escape. Equip a chaff grenade (assuming this is a continued play) and stand in front of Akiba/Johnny. He will throw out two of them.
 * Act 2, Confinement Facility, in the middle house. A tip is to take the left road after blowing up the Power Station, then go back to the right after you reach the Salt Hills. This will save you some time and effort.
 * Act 2, Marketplace. Equip rations, then stand in front of the last Gekko at the fence. Head directly left behind a stall. (You can shoot down the Gekko first.)
 * Act 3, When you get to the area with the searchlights (above the sewers) turn north and open up the map. The chaff grenades are in the top-left area between a bench and a plant.
 * Act 4, Helipad. In an act of nostalgia, they are located at the center of the helipad, the same spot where they were found when Snake first infiltrated the Shadow Moses facility.

Chaff grenades can be used to confuse Scarab unmanned weapons, though they are less effective against Gekko. The design of the chaff grenades in Metal Gear Solid 4 are based on a grenade-shaped gas bottle for Airsoft guns. The "M363" marking is actually the code for an obsolete canister round for tank cannons.

In-game weapon descriptions
"A electronics jamming grenade developed by the Soviet Union. Upon detonation, scatters a large quantity of metal fragments into the air, jamming radio signals and rendering electronic devices inoperative."

- Chaff grenade description in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

"A non-lethal grenade that temporarily disables any electronic devices in the area by releasing a cloud of signal-jamming metal fragments upon detonation."

- Chaff grenade weapon description from Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

"A non-lethal weapon that scatters a cloud of metal strips when detonated, scrambling nearby electronic devices. When surrounded by unmanned weapons, a chaff grenade can turn the tables in an instant. The chaff can also temporarily block the user's own radio and sensor signals, so these grenades are best saved for when the time is right."

- Chaff grenade weapon description from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Appearances

 * Metal Gear Solid/Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
 * Metal Gear Solid 2
 * Metal Gear Solid 3
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
 * Metal Gear Solid 4
 * Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker