US Army’s 30mm Gun Designed to Clear Russian Trenches

"I test the Army’s new 30×42mm Precision Grenade Rifle and break down how it’s changing infantry combat. The Squad Support Rifle System or SSRS 30mm grenade launcher. It fires ammunition from airburst rounds to counter-drone and anti-armor munitions, this weapon delivers insane accuracy and firepower. Here’s why it might replace traditional grenade launchers like the M203 and M320 and M32 and become the squad’s most lethal system." Cappy Army

Foreword:

--I'm not bad mouthing the M25 Punisher. I do not think there was any sort of corruption or mismanagement, it was the best we had at the time and addressed a need for some very desirable capabilities we wanted fielded.

--When the M25 was fielded (2010), we at the end of the the GWOT, but stories about new weapon systems were still interesting to the public.

Other contenders:

Northrup Grumman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7AowiiZC30

FN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX0Idw06nSU

Rheinmetall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A-dHGZTbKY

That said,

I believe that today we much better understand what it is that the war-fighter actually needs (lessons learned from systems like the M25).

The technology for the sensors / optics, computing have become so much faster and smaller, lighter and more reliable.

The advancements in the gun design, ammunition, and sighting systems, all combined make it to where without much fanfare, we're going to field a highly capable system soon.

The technology has ripened to where it's cheaper and smaller, lighter and reliable enough, more "effective" of target to where it's truly practical in a wide array of scenarios and environments.

Make a bigger caliber pump shotgun, give it to the geekazoids, and this? is what comes out?

More gadgetry, more batteries, more to get chucked up and make it out of battery?

Mossberg 500 series..still kahchunking today..
Same size and heft as a Win94.
Ya figure a 6th grade reading level will master the manual of arms?

One of those proximity grenades costs about $1,400. Once production is ramped up, economy of scale will likely reduce the cost, substantially.

The drones used cost a lot more than $500. They cost more like $1,600 a unit before they are heavily modified.

A laser detects the range and as the round travels down the barrel it is told how many revolutions (revolutions = range) before detonating.

As a close in last ditch effort to save your hide, this weapon system offers the war-fighter an option against drones. If it replaces the 203, you’d have 2 in every squad, and it would be very prolific (lots of guys shooting). Yes, now we get expensive again. But there is another aspect to consider and that is the value of the damage done if the drone does its job. Think about what it means if just one soldier is killed or crippled. You could shoot 100, or even 200 grenades at that drone and it would still be “highly” cost effective.

A shotgun simply does not have the range and the pellets often don’t have the dropping power (that drone is often so close that it is already in its effect rage)... A rifle has range and can do the damage if it hits, but a small bullet in a big sky is unlikely to hit, hopefully SMASH makes the rifle more effective. A grenade like this can fly out to 500 meters and has a burst radius (a volume if the drone is inside it will get destroyed - increasing probability of hit).

Mentioning the drone threat as you did is a very good point (it’s probably the primary threat at this point):
https://www.politico.eu/article/latvian-report-drones-are-mass-killers-on-the-ukraine-front/

A weapon system like this “could” help in what I believe will likely turn out to be a multifaceted approach to the drone threat.

I think your assessment is accurate, but how will you lase a range on a small moving target like a drone?

There's a targeting mechanism missing somewhere. Maybe a scatter shot laser that fires in a pattern and takes what hits to estimate range? Plus the target is moving towards or away from you, so how can it estimate range accurately without knowing the speed and vector of the target?

Is it better than nothing against drones? Certainly. But it seems far from adequate in its current configuration.

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