Since Augetter got the Whatziss... let's go ahead with this one.
A Soldier aims an XM-25 weapon system at Aberdeen Test Center, Md. It fires 25 mm grenades that are set to explode in mid-air at or near the target. 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.
A Soldier aims an XM-25 weapon system at Aberdeen Test Center, Md. It fires 25 mm grenades that are set to explode in mid-air at or near the target. 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.
We used to call the old M-79 Grenade Launcher the shoulder mortar.
Papa Ray
*Big* problems with soldier-proofing it.
It looks like they still have a ways to go -- I see entirely too many external moving parts that'll need to be kept dirt-and-dent-free in combat. And that Fire Control Center mounted up top for setting the fuzes on the 25mm round will need *lots* of batteries...
That sight package is, no matter how robust it's claimed to be, way too fragile for long term foot mobile use by grunts too far away from the armory for extended periods.
It'll probably do fine with units that start and end their day's patrols from an organized base with lots of logistics support. But any unit that needs to be in the field for extended periods will, most likely, come to see such a weapon as more liability than use.