U.S. Army Testing New Weapons

US Army soldiers have test fired 3 experimental weapons at Grafenwöhr Training Area in Germany.

These new weapons are upgraded versions of a grenade launcher, a machine gun and a semi-automatic rifle.

The SM320 low-velocity grenade launcher:

This grenade launcher attaches to a host rifle or can be fired as a stand-alone weapon. Although none of the Soldiers had used it before, most scored hits on their first try.

US Army tests new weapons

The XM312 machine gun:

The XM312, formerly known as the XM307K50, is a lightweight .50 caliber (12.7mm) machine gun being developed by General Dynamics to provide support for US Army objective forces. It features increased accuracy, effectiveness and lethality over current machine guns.

This item can be converted to a 25mm grenade launcher taking less than 5 minutes and changing 6 parts. In fact, the XM312 machine gun is a derivative of the XM307 25mm grenade weapon system being designed for the US Army Objective Force.

XM312 Lightweight 50 cal Machinegun

The XM25 semiautomatic large caliber rifle:

The XM-25 uses 25mm "smart shells" in conjuction with a computer controlled fuze in each shell. The XM-25 operator can select four different firing modes via a selector switch on the weapon.
The four modes include "Bursting" (airburst).
"PD" (point detonation, where the round explodes on contact).
"PDD" (point detonation delay, where the round detonates immediately after it has gone through a door, window or thin wall).
And "Window", which is used for firing at enemy troops in a trench, behind a stone wall or inside a room. The round detonates just beyond the aiming
point. For buildings, this would be a window or door frame, cave entrance or the corner of a building (to get enemy troops thought to be around the corner.)
More Info on the XM-25

All these weapons had glowing reports from the soldiers who had the opporunity to test fire them.
Here is a portion of the original story with a link to the source...

US Department of Defense
Wed, 5 Oct 2005

SPC Jason Enriquez, an infantryman with B Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, was the first Soldier in the area to fire the XM25, a semiautomatic weapon. He had glowing reports on its capabilities.

“It was totally smooth and light. It shot fantastic,” he said. “It moves your head and snaps you back. I never felt a kick like that before, but it was smooth. It wasn’t rough.”

The XM25 is equipped with a ballistic computer, thermal sights and zoom capabilities.

Like Enriquez, SPC Matthew Krupa also found the weapon easy to use. “The accuracy was amazing,” said Krupa, a tanker with Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment. “The site was perfect, very advanced.”

Having the XM25 in Iraq would have proven beneficial, Krupa added.

“It would be good for getting people behind walls or ducking behind cars. It would have helped a lot,” he said.


More...

ATS Links:
25mm airbursting round

didnt know they made the XM 25 already, i thought i saw mockups and stuff but its good to know they made those weapons out fast after concepts. good to hear they are accurate after a first few rounds. i would say they should be introduced early lets say Iraq war to see how really good they are.

Anyone knows what the "S" in SM320 stands for? Up to this text I didnt even knew they renamed the XM320... And why were these weapons tested in Grafenwöhr?

Lonestar, After reading this article about the XM320 my best guess is that the "S" in SM320 stood for "single shot", and the M means munition maybe?


[edit on 7-10-2005 by warpboost]

Yay more ways to kills people just what we need

Originally posted by sardion2000
Yay more ways to kills people just what we need

yay a better way that can kill the bad guys more easily and dont endanger the troops by being jam or broken down. yep thats wat we need big time.