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U.S. Army Unveils 'Revolutionary' XM25 Rifle in Afghanistan
Fox News ^ | November 28, 2010 | Joshua Rhett Miller

Posted on 11/28/2010 6:29:13 PM PST by Pan_Yan

Since the dawn of modern warfare, the best way to stay alive in the face of incoming fire has been to take cover behind a wall. But thanks to a game-changing "revolutionary" rifle, the U.S. Army has made that tactic dead on arrival. Now the enemy can run, but he can't hide.

After years of development, the U.S. Army has unleashed a new weapon in Afghanistan -- the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System, a high-tech rifle that can be programmed so that its 25-mm. ammunition does not necessarily explode on impact. Instead, it can be set to detonate either in front of or behind a target, meaning it literally will go through a wall before it explodes and kills the enemy.

It also has a range of roughly 2,300 feet -- nearly the length of eight football fields -- making it possible to fire at targets well past the range of the rifles and carbines that most soldiers carry today.

Lt. Col. Christopher Lehner, project manager for the semi-automatic, shoulder-fired weapon system for the U.S. Army's Program Executive Office Soldier, said that the XM25's capability alone is such a "game-changer" that it'll lead to new ways of fighting on the battlefield, beginning this month in Afghanistan.

...

Lehner said the first XM25s were distributed to combat units in Afghanistan this month. The 12-pound, 29-inch system, which was designed by Minnesota's Alliant Techsystems, costs up to $35,000 per unit and, while highly sophisticated, is so easy to use that soldiers become proficient within minutes.

"That's how intuitively easy it is, even though it's high-tech," Lehner said. "All a soldier needs to know how to do is laze the target. It decimates anything within its lethal radius."

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; army; banglist; waronterror; xm25
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To: Pan_Yan

Thanks Pan_Yan. It’s better than the stuff I could find.


21 posted on 11/28/2010 6:47:12 PM PST by Karliner (Now this is not the end. .... But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning, Churchill 1942)
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To: mamelukesabre
Programmable. Each round can be given a designated target and then the rounds are programed in the magazine for that target. All the operator has to do is aim, laze, fire after that.
It's a whole lot more than 'daddy's shotgun' with special ammo. It's a way to hit outside the small arms range and guarantee a hit. It's what is called 25mm Short. Same types of projectiles as the 25mm Chain gun on the Apaches, but range is about half. Accuracy. MOA accurate. Look for it to be incorporated into the Barrett system also.


22 posted on 11/28/2010 6:47:16 PM PST by Wizdum
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To: Pan_Yan

Yes it is, but they already could do that with the OICW, iirc.


23 posted on 11/28/2010 6:47:33 PM PST by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
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To: Wizdum

You didn’t see my post 11


24 posted on 11/28/2010 6:48:37 PM PST by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
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To: Kickass Conservative

bah!

It’s the gun sights plus the ammo. the gun is ho hum.


25 posted on 11/28/2010 6:51:16 PM PST by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
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To: mamelukesabre

I’ll take your word for it. I’m not a weapons expert (former submariner) by any stretch. I was reading articles about Afghanistan and this scrolled by. Hadn’t been posted so I put it up. I’ll let the experts hash out the pros and cons.


26 posted on 11/28/2010 6:51:43 PM PST by Pan_Yan
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To: Pan_Yan
Good grief - this thing is 'non-lethal' - primarily to disable, confuse or scare an opponent, not to kill them.

It's a 35K firecracker distributor - albeit, a fairly accurate one.

"Game changer"?? Yeah, if you don't want to kill your opponents, and that is the wrong kind of 'change' for a battlefield - kinda like Obama's change, all of it senseless and highly questionable.

27 posted on 11/28/2010 6:52:21 PM PST by Ron C.
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To: mamelukesabre

A rugged, reliable method for programming the ammo is pretty damned impressive, too.


28 posted on 11/28/2010 6:52:41 PM PST by MortMan (To Obama "Kill them all and let [God] sort them out" is an abortion slogan.)
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To: mamelukesabre
Semantics my FRiend, semantics... LOL
29 posted on 11/28/2010 6:52:54 PM PST by Kickass Conservative (Obama, Pelosi and Reid, the Axis of Fascism.)
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To: Pan_Yan

Ammo isn’t cheap, either.


30 posted on 11/28/2010 6:53:11 PM PST by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: Pan_Yan

Just the thing for your local SWAT team and those pesky wrong address raids.


31 posted on 11/28/2010 6:53:32 PM PST by dljordan ("His father's sword he hath girded on, And his wild harp slung behind him")
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To: Pan_Yan
12 lbs!? That's more than an M-14! That's not going to be popular humping it up and down the "hills" in Afghanistan...

Guess it'll be a special weapon, like a SAW or a sniper...

32 posted on 11/28/2010 6:53:53 PM PST by ThunderSleeps (Stop obama now! Stop the hussein - insane agenda!)
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To: mamelukesabre
I was still putting my post together. Yes, the ammo is the impressive part, but it has to be coupled to that scope, which is the real star of the program.

Look for it to come on a number of sniping variations from the Barrett to the M-14, to some of the AR systems. It will calculate total atmospheric conditions before the operator fires.

33 posted on 11/28/2010 6:56:36 PM PST by Wizdum
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To: Wizdum

When will the surplus ammo start showing up at Cabelas?


34 posted on 11/28/2010 6:57:34 PM PST by umgud
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To: Ron C.

Actually, if it’s the system I’m thinking about, the ammo can be “non-lethal.” But it can also be “lethal as H#ll.”


35 posted on 11/28/2010 6:58:35 PM PST by piytar (0's idea of power: the capacity to inflict unlimited pain and suffering on another human being. 1984)
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To: Ron C.

No sir that is just one type of ammo.

# Caliber: Low-velocity 25 x 40 mm grenade.

* Thermobaric
* Flechette
* Training
* High-explosive airbursting.
* Non-lethal

# Range: 500 m point, 1000 m area.


36 posted on 11/28/2010 7:00:24 PM PST by omega4179 (Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius)
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To: ThunderSleeps
12 lbs!? ... That's not going to be popular humping it up and down the "hills" in Afghanistan...

Which brings up an interesting question. I wonder how much 'humping up and down the hills' our forces do in Afghanistan? I know it's not flat like Iraq, where everyone seemed to be in Humvees all the time.

37 posted on 11/28/2010 7:00:27 PM PST by Pan_Yan
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To: Pan_Yan

Great. Does it have a cell phone hooked up to it, so they can immediately call the lawyer JAG-offs to ask them if they are allowed to fire the G-d damned thing at the blessed, sacred mooselimb scumf-cks?? This war would be over 6 years ago if we were allowed to KILL THEM...


38 posted on 11/28/2010 7:01:45 PM PST by Captainpaintball
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To: Pan_Yan

This is excellent. In the past US have to call in air strike, if this weapon is distributed to every squad, we could reduce time and cost to kill a well barricade enemy


39 posted on 11/28/2010 7:08:11 PM PST by 4rcane
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To: Pan_Yan
I wonder how much 'humping up and down the hills' our forces do in Afghanistan?

Dunno... I almost had first-hand knowledge of the area - I volunteered for an assignment there, but wasn't selected. (skill set just a bit off from the requirements)

40 posted on 11/28/2010 7:08:31 PM PST by ThunderSleeps (Stop obama now! Stop the hussein - insane agenda!)
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