Army rolls out new 25mm

Came out with a new gun that fires 25mm airbursts. pretty cool
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101201/sc_afp/usmilitaryweaponsafghanistan

poopdaddy already posted this. it's pretty interesting though

if you follow military.com this thing has been in army testing with spec ops for months... it is just being fully fielded now

actualy this round isnt new. It orginaly came out with the 25mm attachment for the XM8 back when it came out. It also had the airburst feature

Dont like it for a variety of reasons:

1. I read that it only has a 4 round magazine. Are you serious? 7.62 armor piercing rounds can tear through a lot of things like a hot knife through butter, and I can get 20-30 rounds of them in 1 mag depending on mag size.

2. It cost 30,000 dollars. So I cant see this being bought in large numbers.

3. We already have 320's and 203's so the GL role is already filled by an effective, reliable weapon system.

4. It says that is focuses heavily on technology. What about bugs? errors? EMPS? Does it bounce well? So many questions need to be answered.

5. It looks freakin huge and bulky, and I imagine its quite heavy.

oh well i posted cuz it looks cool

Twitch wrote:Dont like it for a variety of reasons:

1. I read that it only has a 4 round magazine. Are you serious? 7.62 armor piercing rounds can tear through a lot of things like a hot knife through butter, and I can get 20-30 rounds of them in 1 mag depending on mag size.

2. It cost 30,000 dollars. So I cant see this being bought in large numbers.

3. We already have 320's and 203's so the GL role is already filled by an effective, reliable weapon system.

4. It says that is focuses heavily on technology. What about bugs? errors? EMPS? Does it bounce well? So many questions need to be answered.

5. It looks freakin huge and bulky, and I imagine its quite heavy.

err, it's not a primary weapon... if it does the job then cost is not a factor.
4 round mags is just about right. it's a smart grenade launcher isn't it? gonna use it on campers and not runners.
i don't know what a 320 or 203 is. how much do those cost?
technology wins wars.

-a|ex

a|ex wrote:

i don't know what a 320 or 203 is. how much do those cost?

M203 and M320 grenade. they cost a lot less

Doesnt matter if its not a primary weapon system. Smart weapon + smart ammunition = expensive as !%#%. Even outfitting one per squad (which is what it looks like they plan on doing) is going to cost a lot of money. I'm assuming this will replace the grenadier role, so will he have to carry around this and an M4 now? I dont see that being very practical. He may be a grenadier, but his primary job is still a rifleman. The beauty of the 203 and 320 (the current GL's used by the army) are the fact that they can attach to a rail system, meaning that you don't have to a separate weapon system from your M4. Makes much more sense to me rather than having a separate weapon system. Actually H&K's 320 has a laser rangefinder on it, just no air burst feature.

IMO technology does not win wars. Its nice to have, but its always going to be flawed, and its never going to work when you really need it too. What wins wars is ingenuity and determination IMO.

S.M.A. wrote:oh well i posted cuz it looks cool

A lot of weapons lke this are made for this reason sometimes^^^ sort of impractical but they look good to the public.

-a|ex wrote: if it does the job then cost is not a factor. -a|ex

Haha..ahh...nope.

To Twitch, the weapon system is definitly better than an M203. It can function somewhat like an M203 and explode on impact, or it can use the airburst feature. Its definitly alot more precise in its ability to deliver the fragmentation on target than a regular 320/203, or any other non airburst capable weapon. Here is basiically how the weapon works:

You find your target, he has hidden behind a piece of cover.
You range find the cover, and designate teh grenade to detonate one meter past that range.
You fire the grenade, it travels one meter past the cover and detonates, killing whoever was taking cover behind said cover.

While its better, its not neccessarily feasible as a weapon. Like you said, ammo seems low and its very heavy for a GL. That coupled with the price makes it look like its just a very convenient specialty weapon that some units might get their hands on every now and then. Nothing I can see a patrol taking with them into the field though.

diagram of the XM25



now look closer at the OPFOR

Blackhawk 5 wrote:diagram of the XM25

now look closer at the OPFOR

Lol redcoats.

I understand how the weapon works I just dont really think its a game changer.

When will this be available for cilivian purchase?

Newnan Airsoft Player wrote:When will this be available for cilivian purchase?

i agree with twitch on this one, because for some reason he always seems to be right about everything....and yeah m302s are awesome. anything from hk is awesome