Army to Test Air Burst Weapon for Joes

[unhappycamper]

Army to Test Air Burst Weapon for Joes
September 26, 2008
Military.com|by Christian Lowe

For once it seems the Army is actually turning fiction into science.

After nearly a decade in the shadows -- with billions spent on earlier versions long since abandoned -- the Army is moving quickly to field a revolutionary new weapon to Joes a lot sooner than anyone had ever imagined.

It's a weapon that can take out a bad guy behind a wall, beyond a hill or below a trench, and do it more accurately and with less collateral damage than anything on the battlefield today, officials say. It's called the XM25 Individual Air Burst Weapon, and by next month the service will have three prototypes of the precision-guided 25mm rifle ready for testing.


"We've done a lot of testing with this, and what we're seeing is the estimated increase in effectiveness is six times what we'd be getting with a 5.56mm carbine or a grenade launcher," said Rich Audette, Army Deputy Project Manager for Soldier weapons.

"What we're talking about is a true 'leap ahead' in lethality, here. This is a huge step," Audette added during a phone interview with Military.com from his office at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/army-to-test-air-burst-weapon-for-joes.html

[billyoc]

1. What's the old joke, it'll go through anything

except a platoon of GI's?

[YOY]

2. "can take out a bad guy behind a wall, beyond a hill or below a trench..."

Wouldn't freak me out if we had a clear definition of "bad guy".

[mike_c]

3. "This is a huge step."

Words fail me. :cry: