Army testing XM-25 'smart' high-explosive weapon for
Soldiers
Nov 12, 2009, By Lt. Col. Christopher Lehner (Source: US
Army) |
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FORT
BELVOIR, Va. -- A
Soldier successfully shoulder-fired a "smart" High
Explosive Airburst, or HEAB, round for the first time
Aug. 11 from the XM-25 weapon system at Aberdeen Test
Center, Md.
The Army plans on purchasing more than 12,500 XM-25
systems starting in 2012, which will be enough to put
one in each Infantry squad and Special Forces team,
according to officials at Program Executive
Office-Soldier.
At first glance, the XM-25 looks like something out of a
Sci-Fi movie. It features an array of sights, sensors
and lasers housed in a Target Acquisition Fire Control
unit on top, an oversized magazine behind the trigger
mechanism, and a short, ominous barrel wrapped by a
recoil dampening sleeve.
Unlike a Hollywood prop, however, this weapon is very
real and designed to accurately deliver an explosive
round that neutralizes targets at distances of up to 700
meters - well past the range of the rifles and carbines
that most Soldiers carry today.
"What makes this weapon system truly revolutionary is
the ability to target the enemy, pass on this
information to the sensors and microchips of its 25mm
HEAB round, and have that round detonate over the
target," explained Maj. Shawn Murray, a Soldier Weapons
assistant product manager in PEO Soldier, the
organization responsible for developing the XM-25.
"When the HEAB round explodes, the target is peppered
with fragmentation," Murray said. "Our studies indicate
that the XM-25 with HEAB is 300 percent more effective
at incapacitating the enemy than current weapons at the
squad level."
Because of the XM-25's unique TAFC and HEAB round,
Soldiers will be able to engage enemy forces located in
the open and "in defilade" -behind cover, such as walls,
rocks, trenches, or inside buildings. The semi-automatic
weapon's magazine holds four 25mm rounds and can be
employed at night or during inclement weather thanks to
the XM25's built-in thermal sight.
After only five minutes of instruction at the Aberdeen
Test Center, Sgt. Logan E. Diveley from the 180th
Infantry Regiment was able to put his first HEAB round
through a building's window and take out an enemy
mannequin at 200 meters.
When asked what he thought of the weapon, Diveley
responded, "I've been in over nine contacts with the
enemy during my two tours in Iraq. Their ambushes were
usually initiated with an IED and followed up with small
arms fire from behind walls and buildings, places where
it was hard for us to get at them. The XM-25 would have
taken care of things and made our jobs much easier."
Once downrange and in the building where the defeated
enemy mannequin lay, Maj. Murray noted the limited
collateral damage associated with the XM-25.
"Because of its pinpoint accuracy and relatively small
warheads, the XM25 can neutralize an enemy without the
need to destroy a whole building," Murray said. "For our
counter-insurgency operations to be successful, it is
important to keep collateral damage to a minimum and to
protect the civilian population. I think the XM-25 will
prove itself many times over in Afghanistan," Murray
said.
The XM-25 is being developed by PEO Soldier, the Army
acquisition organization responsible for nearly every
piece of equipment worn or carried by Soldiers. This
includes items ranging from socks, to weapons, to
advanced sensor and communication devices. PEO Soldier
bases much of its work on the feedback from individual
Soldiers, developing or procuring solutions to meet
those needs.
The development of the XM-25 is one such a program,
designed to provide Soldiers a solution for dealing with
enemies in the open and behind cover that is more
precise, quicker to employ, and more cost effective than
mortar, artillery, or airstrikes.
A Battlefield Scenario for the XM-25
An American patrol nears a walled, Afghan village when
an enemy combatant looks over the wall and fires his
AK-47 rifle at the oncoming U.S. Soldiers. The Americans
return fire with their rifles and maneuver, but find it
difficult to neutralize the enemy rifleman who
repeatedly exposes himself for only a second, shoots,
then ducks behind the thick wall. At this time, the
patrol leader calls for the XM-25 gunner to take action.
Immediately, the XM-25 gunner aims the laser
range-finder at the top of the wall where the enemy last
ducked down. The gunner presses the laser range finder
button on the front of the XM-25's trigger guard and
records a distance to the wall of 451 meters. The
distance is displayed on the TAFC's optical lens along
with an adjusted aim point, or "cross hair," to help the
soldier better aim the XM-25.
The adjusted aim point takes into account air pressure,
temperature, and the ballistics of the 25mm round for
the given range of 451 meters. The soldier then uses the
increment button on the trigger guard and adds one more
meter to the firing solution since the enemy combatant
is about one meter behind the wall.
Upon pulling the trigger, the TAFC programs the HEAB
round in the chamber of the weapon, telling the round to
explode at 452 meters from launch point. The HEAB round
departs the rifled barrel, arms at 30 meters, clears the
top of the wall at 451 meters and explodes its two
warheads at 452 meters, right above the enemy. The
entire firing sequence takes the gunner less than five
seconds to aim and fire and another 2.5 seconds for the
round to fly and explode over the target, thereby
clearing the way for the patrol to resume its mission.
(Lt. Col. Christopher Lehner writes for PEO Soldier -
Soldier Weapons) |
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Army Testing XM-25 High Explosive Weapon
