US military unveils 'smart gun'

[cleanhippie]

Called the XM-25 it has been described by the US Army as a 'game changer'.

It uses a laser guidance system and specially developed 25mm high explosive rounds which can be programmed to detonate over a target.

Richard Audette helped develop it for the US Army and says it's a big leap forward because it's the first small arms weapon to use smart technology.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/11876041

[Drale]

1. Thats not new technology

its been around for years, in fact I've seen things about that on Tales of the Gun on the history channel.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. Yes, but this is the first time they've been deployed into actual combat.

The actual gun though, as you've mentioned, has probably been in development/testing for a decade.

[benEzra]

9. Yes, it's an evolution of the grenade-launcher component of the impractically-heavy XM29 OICW...

which tried to combine a 5.56x45mm assault rifle and a 20mm grenade launcher in one impractically heavy and bulky weapon. The XM25 program took the OICW's 20mm launcher, upsized it to 25mm, and made it a standalone weapon.

[krispos42]

11. The XM-29 was featured in a book by James H. Cobb

"Target Lock". Some SOC Marines had them. Not a major plot point to the book, but it was interesting to read about them in combat for the first time.


Incidently, his 3rd book, "Sea Fighter", is a pretty interesting piece of military literature.

[thereismore]

3. So the round explodes inside the body? What a mess. nt

[ManiacJoe]

4. No, near the bodies.

It is firing 1 inch grenades that detonate at distance-markers instead of time-markers or instead of on impact.

[Atypical Liberal]

5. No, it explodes after a set distance.

The "gun" is actually a grenade launcher. By using a laser rangefinder, the weapon can determine the range to the target and send this information to the grenade. The grenade, which spins during flight due to rifling in the barrel, has electronics that can count how many times it spins. Because the velocity is known, as is the twist of the rifling, one can calculate the distance the grenade has traveled by counting how many times it has spun.

The electronics then detonate the grenade when it has reached the range of the target, or just lightly past it.

This means that a person hiding behind cover can be attacked by causing the grenade to detonate overhead, or beside the cover, with the shrapnel blast striking behind the cover.

[thereismore]

6. thanks, very helpful. I would still like a regular rifle for open combat. nt

[benEzra]

8. I think this is envisioned as a "one per squad" or "one per fire team" type thing. (n/t)

[Kennah]

7. Lieutenant, what do those pulse rifles fire?

[badtoworse]

10. Aliens? - nt

[Euromutt]

13. No, 10mm caseless!

And 30mm grenades from the underbarrel launcher.

[badtoworse]

15. In the movie "Aliens"...

Wasn't that the question that Ripley asked Lt. Gorman when the Colonial Marines were investigating Plant LV-426. Aliens was a sequel to the movie Alien - both were very good.

[Euromutt]

19. Correct!

And the response I gave was sort of correct, in the sense that 10mm caseless and 30mm grenades are what the Colonial Marines' M41A pulse rifle fires; but it was not entirely correct in that I did not remember Lt. Gorman's exact answer, which was:

Ten millimeter explosive tip caseless. Standard light armor-piercing rounds. Why?

Upon which Ripley points out such rounds will readily rupture the power plant's cooling system.

[Callisto32]

14. I thought those were 20mm grenades?

[Glassunion]

12. Where have I seen this before?

Oh yeah!!!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004TX5G/ref=nosim/dischq-20

[Xenotime]

16. More death...I'm not impressed.

[oneshooter]

17. You were never asked to be "impressed". n/t

[jazzhound]

18. Nobody is impressed with the fact

that you're unimpressed.

[Katya Mullethov]

20. Not at all

But it did leave an impression on me .

[cleanhippie]

21. More nonsense...no one is impressed.