Posted on 11/17/2010 1:38:25 AM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The combat zone just got a little more high-tech as soldiers in Afghanistan began testing and training on five prototype weapons that fire smart bullets.
Army officials are calling the XM25 Counter Defilade Targeting Engagement System revolutionary since it is the first time soldiers will have a smart weapon in their hands. Smart weapons have some form of a processing unit that allows them to be self-guided or, in this case, have self-adjusting sights and programmable rounds.
The XM25 — which is not much bigger than a standard service rifle — fires 25 mm rounds that can be programmed to explode on impact, in front of or behind an object. The weapon allows soldiers to kill enemies hiding behind walls or other cover by firing above, or to the side, of the wall from up to 700 meters away.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
I saw a show about the XM25 a while back. Very impressive weapons system.
It’s a little scary to ponder what the advances in processor technology and miniaturization are making possible, not to mention what might be in store five or ten years down the road. But hey, better to embrace the possibilities than ignore them.
Clinton sold the missile tech to China most likely for his own profit. The kenyan will transfer tech to enemies of America, probably arabs or Pakistanis, for ideological reasons.
Ping.
fires 25 mm rounds ... Bet there is a Hell of a kick from that sucker!
FWIW, 1000m with a .308 isn't hard.
There is another current post that shows a Chinese made UAV. Looks remarkably like the Predator.
The Chinese are great at reverse engineering our technology and stealing our technology. Not sure they are fully capable of designing this on their own...
“which is not much bigger than a standard service rifle “
XM-25 - 14 pounds w/sighting system, no ammo
M-4 - 7.5 lbs (loaded weight with sling & 30 rd magazine)+ whatever sight is used - (ACOG 1.5 x is just under 6 oz, the 6x sight 36 oz)
Add in battery, etc, etc and humping this will be as much fun as a blooper.
Comments from troopers found on the web seem to say - no thanks!
“Riiiiiiiiight … I’m in one of those theaters and I know for a fact no one has asked for it here. Our gear is too heavy as it is; troops aren’t going to hump a 14-lb 4-shot single purpose grenade launcher up these mountains. Maybe if they hadn’t killed the XM307 they could be using it on a truck to 2000m.
Unlike M203 — no secondary capabilities (nonlethal, flares, smoke). Rounds aren’t big enough for smoke. No buckshot round for close quarters — at short range you’re firing a very, very expensive HE round as a dumb slug. You don’t get to pick when the enemy will pop up in your area. Combat ain’t a range at APG.”
another comment from the same source
“I agree Flanker, that would be swell. But let’s face it: “Big Green” ain’t never gonna do it. I think that a new PDW and cartridge would be a bridge too far for the powers that be. Rather, I see some poor Joe shlepping this thing around on his back with an M4 in his hands, fumbling around to put it into action when needed… I witnessed the same thing in Baghdad when the M110 SASS was fielded because short-sighted leaders couldn’t accept that the dang thing could be used as a battle rifle if needed and they wanted the kid to be prepared for any situation. The end result would be that this thing would be employed in a manner similar to an AT4 instead of the next-generation individual weapon that it was intended to be.
Ironically, the South Koreans seem to have already cracked the code on this problem with the Daewoo K11 dual-caliber air-burst weapon by abandoning the requirement that the grenade launcher be semi-automatic. By making it manually operated, they managed to at least come close to the original OICW objective weight of 5.5 kg (the K11 is 6.1 kg, the lightest the OICW ever got was 8.2 kg).”
As for the RoK K11 weapon -
“How the Korean soldiers are going to be able to handle the 12+-lb K11 any better than our guys could handle the behemoth ATK/HK XM29/OICW, is anyone’s guess–the K-11 isn’t any lighter, and sure doesn’t look any smaller–but that’s really not our problem.
Hopefully, the Koreans can get the K11’s 20mm munitions to work more reliably and safely than we could get ours to work. God only knows how the Koreans are going to solve the 20mm (lack of) lethality problem.
The U.S. Army went to a 25mm grenade round, and they were still having lethality issues, since the 25mm didn’t measure up to the 40mm (40×46mm) low-impulse/low-velocity grenade’s lethality. Even so, the ATK XM25 (dedicated) 25mm airburst grenade launcher seemed like a superior solution to a 20mm/5.56mm grenade launcher/assault rifle dual-purpose weapon, although it, too, went nowhere.
I would rather just have a good 40mm MGL (Multiple Grenade Launcher) at its disposal–or an MPS AA-12 shotgun with FRAG-12 fin-stabilized 12-Gauge grenade rounds, once the ammo/weapons package is perfected/fully-developed–but good luck to the Koreans. “
IOW - WOnder weapons seldom are - wonderful.
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