Soldiers to test shoulder-fired airburst weapon - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Soldiers to test shoulder-fired airburst weapon

LAS VEGAS — Army weapons officials said Tuesday that soldiers will test out the service’s experimental airburst weapon in the war zone this summer.

The XM25, a shoulder-fired weapon that shoots exploding 25mm projectiles, is “going to be issued to a unit this summer for an assessment down range in theater,” Program Executive Office Soldier commander Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller told an audience at the National Defense Industrial Association’s International Infantry & Joint Services Small Arms Systems Symposium.

The XM25 is an offshoot of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program the Army began working on in the 1990s to engage enemy hiding behind cover with special air-bursting ammunition. OICW was once dual system with a 20mm airburst on top and a 5.56mm carbine on the bottom. Since then the Army has dumped the 5.56mm portion and increased the caliber to 25mm.

Unlike the indirect-fire 40mm grenades used in the M203 or the M320, the XM25’s 25mm rounds are shot in the direct-fire mode and are accurate out to 700 meters.

“It’s actually working extremely well; it’s proving out to be extremely accurate,” Col. Douglas Tamilio, who runs project manager Soldier Weapons, said in a recent interview.

The weapon weighs about 12.5 pounds; 14.5 pounds with a five-round magazine.

Weapons officials would not say whether the XM25 is going to Iraq or Afghanistan nor would they say how many are going. If all goes well, the Army will begin fielding XM25s “in the next couple of years,” Tamilio said.

Right now, the plan is to have the XM25 supplement the two 40mm grenade launchers assigned to each nine-man infantry squad. “It’s really designed to go one per squad, 10 for the rifle company,” Tamilio said.