Reply With QuoteOne step closer to the Morita smart rifle, couple this technology with the LSAT program...and well damn.
Army testing XM-25 'smart' high-explosive weapon for Soldiers
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FORT BELVOIR, Va. (Army News Service, Nov. 12, 2009) – A Soldier successfully shoulder-fired a "smart" High Explosive Airburst, or HEAB, round for the first time Aug. 11 from the XM-25 weapon system at Aberdeen Test Center, Md.
The Army plans on purchasing more than 12,500 XM-25 systems starting in 2012, which will be enough to put one in each Infantry squad and Special Forces team, according to officials at Program Executive Office-Soldier.
At first glance, the XM-25 looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie. It features an array of sights, sensors and lasers housed in a Target Acquisition Fire Control unit on top, an oversized magazine behind the trigger mechanism, and a short, ominous barrel wrapped by a recoil dampening sleeve.
Unlike a Hollywood prop, however, this weapon is very real and designed to accurately deliver an explosive round that neutralizes targets at distances of up to 700 meters - well past the range of the rifles and carbines that most Soldiers carry today.
"What makes this weapon system truly revolutionary is the ability to target the enemy, pass on this information to the sensors and microchips of its 25mm HEAB round, and have that round detonate over the target," explained Maj. Shawn Murray, a Soldier Weapons assistant product manager in PEO Soldier, the organization responsible for developing the XM-25.
"When the HEAB round explodes, the target is peppered with fragmentation," Murray said. "Our studies indicate that the XM-25 with HEAB is 300 percent more effective at incapacitating the enemy than current weapons at the squad level."
Because of the XM-25's unique TAFC and HEAB round, Soldiers will be able to engage enemy forces located in the open and "in defilade" -behind cover, such as walls, rocks, trenches, or inside buildings. The semi-automatic weapon's magazine holds four 25mm rounds and can be employed at night or during inclement weather thanks to the XM25's built-in thermal sight.
After only five minutes of instruction at the Aberdeen Test Center, Sgt. Logan E. Diveley from the 180th Infantry Regiment was able to put his first HEAB round through a building's window and take out an enemy mannequin at 200 meters.
When asked what he thought of the weapon, Diveley responded, "I've been in over nine contacts with the enemy during my two tours in Iraq. Their ambushes were usually initiated with an IED and followed up with small arms fire from behind walls and buildings, places where it was hard for us to get at them. The XM-25 would have taken care of things and made our jobs much easier."
Once downrange and in the building where the defeated enemy mannequin lay, Maj. Murray noted the limited collateral damage associated with the XM-25.
"Because of its pinpoint accuracy and relatively small warheads, the XM25 can neutralize an enemy without the need to destroy a whole building," Murray said. "For our counter-insurgency operations to be successful, it is important to keep collateral damage to a minimum and to protect the civilian population. I think the XM-25 will prove itself many times over in Afghanistan," Murray said.
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One step closer to the Morita smart rifle, couple this technology with the LSAT program...and well damn.
kick arse that thing looks sweet
Ohhh hooo hooo...that's going to be all kinds of fun.
Bullpup config get's nice and handy compact too.
that thing changes appearance more than micheal jackson.
Originally Posted by Soldat_Américain
M41A please
No, watch Roughnecks Chronicles and you will understand...with that weapon and HUD you could do wonders on the modern battlefield.
Awesome Post, been waiting to see this for a few years.
looks alot better from the initial prototype. that must be underneath the sheilding on the front half...
IIRC, this actually looks very similar to the initial prototype. The prototype that had the tan look of an XM-8 came later, and was just a face job to make it look like they were in the same family to increase sales. Obviously now that the XM-8 is a total failure they are trying to distance themselved from it again.
So why is the XM-8 a total failure?
In the reliability test against M-4, HK416 and SCAR it scored much better than all of these.
It just didnt offer anything really new compared to existing systems.
Get your facts right.
does russia develop something like this?
Sorry, by failure simply meant that it was cancelled and will most likely never be seen again. The program failed, doesn't mean the weapon was bad.
EDIT: On a related note, dose anyone know the status of the M320, has it entered full scale production yet? Will the US army end up with two types and calibres of grenade launcher in the same squad?
Last edited by Hauser; 11-13-2009 at 06:41 AM.
The M320 and M203 use the same 40x46mm round. And no, the M320 is replacing the M203, and entered full production last year IIRC. First sent to A-Stan this summer.
I heard that.M41A please
I almost read the title as "Army testing XM-25 'smart' high-explosive weapon on soldiers"
That would be sad.
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