Posted on 02/10/2011 9:48:23 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Three months after the first five XM-25 grenade launchers arrived in Afghanistan, and after only 55 25mm rounds were fired in combat, the troops don't want to give these new weapons up. The XM-25s work as advertised, firing "smart rounds" that explode over the heads of Taliban hiding behind rocks or walls, or hiding in a cave or room. Enemy machine-guns have been quickly knocked out of action and ambushes quickly disrupted with a few 25mm shells. Encounters that might go on for 15 minutes or longer, as U.S. troops exchange fire with hidden Taliban, end in minutes after a few 25mm, computer controlled, rounds are fired from the XM-25. While American infantry love gadgets, they are very eager about electronics that helps them in combat. The XM-25 is all that, and the troops want more. In response, the U.S. Army decided to let the paratroopers keep the five XM-25s, and to speed up construction of an additional 36. The word has gotten around in Afghanistan, and every combat units there is asking for XM-25s. Although warned to keep operational details off public Internet forums, XM-25 users are telling stories to other combat troops of a wonder-weapon that actually works.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
Germans had these in WWII....
BTW, our brothers and sisters will never, not ever turn on you, me, nor our wives, nor our parents, nor our children.
You can't have one. You will shoot your eye out.
5 weapons, 55 rounds and three months.
That’s 11 rounds per weapon over a 90 day period.
Think there just might be a touch of “Hype” in the story?
Would I have a deer without holes, but big bruises... Or lots of shrapnel...
What makes you think ‘Zero’ won’t just sign off on giving it to the Chinese say in trade for a Panda?
I want one..
“This is really very simple technology.”
Simple in concept, difficult in execution.
Sort of like the going to the moon is simple. All you have to do is put these guys on a rocket and light it off.
Not like the Israeli gun. The Germans gun had a curved barrel.
A pretty handy way for a national to field troops, but not have them return home as trained citizen riflemen.
Bull$hit.
I’m a fan of the M203 having used it. Properly trained personnel using the quad sight and the auto-loader (Apache) rounds is a very effective weapon. The Apache rounds are about 3x as heavy as the standard HE round. With a zero-ed quad site I could put a round on a 2” turret hatch lip at 100m first shot.
With the quad sight and large rounds the M203 is a very effective HE weapon. The accuracy is comparable to a rifle shot within 250m. Unfortunately, the heavier rounds were scarce and little emphasis was placed on using the quad sight. Whereas the standard leaf sight is garbage and the infantry HE round is underpowered. This likely accounts for the diminished respect by some for the M203.
Yea, I know...but pretty much the same purpose....they only lasted a few shots....
Don’t know what explosive they pack in the grenades, but there is some stuff out there a lot more potent than the old TNT.
That said, the Army moves so slooooow. We’ve only been at war in Afganistan for nearly 10 years. Bureaucrats get our men killed.
Hot puppydogs! Now I have an even chance against chukar.
I wonder if they were told about the civilian ordnance technician killed when rounds exploded just as soon as they cleared the end of the weapon's muzzle.
Innovative and interesting, if a little heavy? Maybe. *Proven* in combat* Not yet; not hardly. Remember how many of the early version of the XM16 rifle was issued to troops in the field before its *little problems were discovered? Remember how many soldierd and Marines died before they were fixed?
Krummlauf is the term in German. It had a neat little prismatic sight, too.
Well said. It does seem to be only a matter of time before that happens.
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