The XM25 makes use of a low-velocity 25x40mm grenade munition. The launcher can fire this caliber of grenade in varying forms including a two-warhead high-explosive round (HEAB - High-Explosive Air Bursting), a flechette-laden (arrow) round and a thermobaric round (useful in confined spaces such as caves). Additionally, there will be standard training rounds as well as non-lethal rounds. The weapon fires from a 4-round oversized magazine fitted to the rear of the weapon.
The heart and soul of the XM25 is its Target Acquisition Fire Control System (TAFCS). This complex piece of equipment (developed by L-3 Communications Brashear) allows the XM25 operator to engage and fire on targets in day or night (the latter via thermal imaging), in adverse weather conditions and against targets in defilade - that is, hidden from view in a ditch or ravine. Similarly, the weapon will give the US soldier the capability to engage targets inside of buildings, firing from windows. The soldier need only his weapon to calculate the distance past the window frame, fire the XM25 and have the grenade detonate once it is inside the room, hopefully defeating the enemies within - all this with little damage to the building's major internal substructure. The laser rangefinder is activated through a button found along the front side of the XM25's trigger guard. The trigger guard also has the controls to fine-tune the range, adding or subtracting meters to the chambered grenade "on-the-fly". Aiming is via an adjusted crosshair aim point in the optical lens where the recorded target distance is also displayed. The fire control system evaluates the current air temperature and pressure and takes into account the inherent ballistics of the 25mm round for the presented range.
The US Army is intending to purchase some 12,500 M25 systems beginning in 2012 in an effort to field at least one unit with each of its infantry squads as well as for its Special Forces detachments. Primary development of the weapon has been handled by Heckler & Koch GmbH of Germany and Alliant Techsystems of Minnesota, USA.
The first successful test fire of the XM25 by a US soldier occurred at Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland on August 11th, 2009. Testing has shown results on practice targets to be up to 300% greater than that of current squad level weapons tasked to do the same job. Training on the XM25 has also been noted as swift with new XM25 operators being made ready to fire the weapon within five minutes time.
February of 2013 saw the XM25 removed from Afghanistan operations due to a live-fire misfire incident. In June of that year, the program suffered a funding cut, removing 1,400 XM25 weapons from the 2014 procurement budget.
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