From DEFENSETECH:
Army to Rename XM25 Airburst Weapon
U.S. Army weapons officials predict that the long-awaited XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement weapon will be ready for fielding by late 2014. The weapon will be known as the M25. “We’d take the X off,” Lt. Col. Shawn Lucas, the Product Manager Individual Weapons, said in an Army press release. “It’s no longer experimental; it’d be the M25.” XM25 is currently in the engineering and manufacturing development phase and not yet ready for fielding, Lucas said.
Army officials halted operational testing in of the shoulder-fired, 25mm airburst weapon in February after a soldier suffered minor injuries when the weapon “malfunctioned” in Afghanistan. The weapon experienced a double feed and an “unintentional primer ignition” of one round, Army officials maintain. The XM25 had already completed one 14-month battlefield assessment and was in the early stages of a second assessment when the double feed and primer ignition occurred during a live-fire training exercise.
…The cost for the XM25 and the rounds it fires is expensive today, Lucas said, because the weapons and ammunition are being manufactured by hand. But with development of automated production facilities, he said the price is expected to come down to about $35,000 for the weapon and fire control system, and about $55 per round. The XM25, which some troops call the Punisher, has created both excitement and skepticism in the infantry community.
The weapon features a target acquisition system that calculates the target range with a push of a button, and transfers the data to the electronic fuse built into the 25mm round. When fired, the projectile is designed to explode directly above targets out to 600 meters, peppering enemy fighters with shrapnel. Despite its boxy shape, infantrymen who have fired the XM25 in combat say it’s effective at engaging enemy forces hiding behind the short mud walls commonplace across Afghanistan.
The Youngest’s squad in the 101st Airborne were deployed up in the Pech Valley (nigh on over 2 years agonow, so not revealing any OpSec) was chosen to test it. He said it was godawful heavy to hump around in the mountains (they were already at 10,000 ft plus) and the shells were heavy as well – not a good thing for ground pounders out on patrol all the time. However, he and his squad loved it – it made short work of what ailed them in a firefight: “Dad, ONE shot – all gone”! It did what it was supposed to – smart targeting, smart results against situation where normal fire didn’t work well “here, see that window? Go there, go inside 2 feet, and then make it rain”. Bottom line, he said, it kept them safer and got rid of bad guys quick. They tried to hide it so that they didn’t have to give it back when testing was over…
Lucas said he expects the weapon will be fielded to all brigade combat teams, as well as units in U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Special Forces detachments, and the 75th Ranger Regiment.
But so far, the XM25 has also received its share of criticism from door-kickers who say the five-shot, 14-pound weapon system is more of a burden than a benefit to combat units. In March, elements of the Ranger Regiment refused to take XM25 with them for a raid on a fortified enemy compound in Afghanistan, sources familiar with the incident said. After an initial assessment, Ranger units found the XM25 too heavy and cumbersome for the battlefield. They were also concerned that the limited basic load of 25mm rounds was not enough to justify taking an M4A1 carbine out of the mission, sources say.
Hmm, for the Youngest, he said it was a “Don’t leave home COP without it” card weapon. Different missions, different situations.
