US Army Returns to Hand-Held Grenade Launchers
Barrett Firearms, in conjunction with MARS, Inc., recently unveiled a full-size mockup of the company's .30mm self-loading grenade launcher at an Association of the US Army (AUSA) event. The system is currently known as the Squad Support Rifle System (SSRS).
The Barrett Firearms grenade launcher mockup is equipped with the XM157 smart optical system from Vortex Optics, which is supposed to be installed on the new 6,8 x 51 mm assault rifles and machine guns of the US Army. A logical attempt to unify sighting systems.
Earlier, FN America (the American subsidiary of the same Belgian Fabrique Nationale) demonstrated its model of a grenade launcher under the index PGS-001. Both companies became finalists in a promising competition announced by the US Army and called the "xTech Soldier Lethality challenge". The technical task involves the creation of a self-loading grenade launcher, carried by one person and capable of hitting manpower and equipment, including lightly armored, at distances of at least 500 meters.
And army leaders generally do not hide the fact that the current competition is a continuation of the ideas embedded in the experimental XM25 CDTE (Counter Defilade Target Engagement) grenade launcher.
The entire line of ammunition proposed for production and some characteristics of the Squad Support Rifle System (SSRS) from Barrett Firearms on the stand during the presentation. The weight of the system is suggested to be more than reasonable – 6,3 kg. However, this is the weight of an unloaded grenade launcher with optics.
We recently wrote about the XM29 rifle and grenade launcher system, which was part of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program. The concept of an automatic grenade launcher with an underbarrel machine gun turned out to be a failure, as did other elements of the OICW program. The complete rearmament of the American army did not take place. But the military decided to develop the idea of a self-loading grenade launcher with programmable ammunition. They took the idea of a grenade launcher and sighting system from the XM29, increased the caliber to 25 mm, as was supposed for the OCSW (Objective Crew Served Weapon) grenade launcher, and eventually got the XM25.
General view of the PGS-001 grenade launcher model from FN America.
Unlike many previous US Army R&D efforts, the XM2000 work that began in the 25s looked very promising. Not only did the system fire and hit targets, it was also quite reliable. During the entire testing and operation period, there was only one accident caused by a malfunction in the grenade launcher's automatics (double feed), and the shooter was injured. Quite a good result for a fundamentally new weapon. weapons with a fundamentally new ammunition.
Loaded magazine of the PGS-001 grenade launcher from FN America, shown during the presentation in 2023. The American "Belgians" approached the presentation of their product more modestly than later Barrett, even the models of ammunition are just blanks printed on a 3D printer.
The crowning achievement of the XM25's career was military testing, and not just anywhere, but in units stationed in Afghanistan. It is often claimed that the system ended up in American special forces units, but according to open source data, almost all XM25s were transferred to the 101st Airborne Division.
And it seems like the infantry "on the ground" were also doing well with the grenade launcher... But the program died in 2018, and the XM25 never went into production. So why?
A soldier from the 101st Airborne Division uses an XM25 grenade launcher during a joint patrol with Afghan government forces, Afghanistan, 2010-2013.
The most important thing is the price. The complex turned out to be very expensive. If the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program was supposed to retire a bunch of weapon systems and ultimately save money on this, then the XM25 became an addition to the existing small arms and grenade launcher system. Accordingly, the order had to be large, but not designed to rearm all army units - 10 samples. Apparently, the army contractor was unable to ensure an acceptable cost per unit with such a number of ordered grenade launchers. The complex and the new ammunition also became an additional burden on the logistics system.
Study of new equipment, Afghanistan, 2010-2013.
Well, there were also two less serious factors. The first was weight. The system itself weighed a reasonable 6 kilograms, but with a full set of ammunition, the weight was approaching 20. And this led to the second problem: a soldier with a grenade launcher was armed only with a grenade launcher and a pistol. He could no longer carry an assault rifle or even a personal self-defense weapon. That is, in essence, there was a rollback to the times of the beginning of the American intervention in Vietnam, when a soldier with an M79 grenade launcher carried only a pistol in addition to it and, having used up all the ammunition for the grenade launcher, turned from a combat unit into a burden for the unit.
A soldier from the 101st Airborne Division fires an XM25 grenade launcher, Afghanistan, 2010-2013.
There is very little information about the new grenade launcher system. But, judging by the samples that were presented, it can be assumed that some of the problems that were inherent in the XM25 were decided to be eliminated. And the first is the cost. On both demonstration mock-ups-concepts, the sights are simply mounted on a Picatinny rail. That is, most likely, there will be no complex integrated system for automatically setting the range of the air detonation of ammunition. Plus, the system is supposed to be as universal as possible. Its tasks will include fighting small UAVs and knocking out door locks, that is, functions that are currently assigned to shotguns in the army. A large futuristic grenade launcher-shotgun.
Infographics showing the range of ammunition for the XM25 grenade launcher. Aside from the training and programmable high-explosive airburst rounds, the other 25mm rounds remain promising. According to Barrett Firearms, their grenade launcher will immediately be equipped with an even larger range of ammunition than was once expected for the XM25.
It is also known that American Rheinmetall Munitions, Knight Technical Solutions and Plumb Precision Products are participating in the competition, so perhaps these are not the last concepts demonstrated on this grenade launcher theme.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see where the Army's dreams of a self-loading grenade launcher, which looks more like a sci-fi "bolter" from the Warhammer 40000 fantasy universe than a real weapon, take it. But the Army is currently fielding several new small arms, so perhaps a handheld automatic grenade launcher could be a good addition to the Army's new weapons system.
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