XM-25 – Individual Airburst Weapon System

3828

Individual Airburst Weapon System is currently under development and intended to address the capability gap of defeating defilade targets. The weapon has the capability to hit point targets at a distance of 500 meters and area targets at 700 meters. 25mm munitions currently in development include High Explosive Air-Burst (HEAB), armor piercing, door breaching, anti-personnel, and two types of non-lethal munitions – blunt and agent dispersing airburst.

XM25 will be able to set the fuse of each round to explode over the target, to create maximum effect. After placing the aimpoint on the target and activating the laser rangefinder, the system calculates the range to the target, and converts it to time of flight for fuse setting. XM25 will utilize the XM116 integral fire control system, which will include day and night channels, laser rangefinder, fuse setter, compass, ballistic computer and an internal display. At AUSA 2006 the XM116 sight was displayed by L3 (Formerly Brashear).

A predecessor of the XM-25 was the XM29 Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW), which was developed as a future replacement to both t M16/M4 and M203 individual weapon system. The program was cancelled, as the U.S. Army favored a more capable 25mm ammunition, which required the use of a separate weapon rifle and grenade launcher.