Introducing Airburst Crowd Control Weapon: XM25 CTDE

3/16/2013: While the public has been debating the "military style assault weapon ban" of guns which are neither "assault weapons" nor "military style" automatic weapons, our military has been moving to deploy a new force multiplication weapon. This weapon replaces cumbersome mortars and adds crowd control capabilities.

Introducing the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement (CDTE) System.

The weapon was renamed in 2011 to  XM25 Individual Semiautomatic Air Burst System

The Army has also announced that congress has granted an additional 24.7 million in funding for 36 new prototype XM25s to supplement the five already in the field.

The term defilade refers to the use of terrain or obstacles to shield or conceal 

That's right, you can not hide from this gun. (Troops refer to it as "The Punisher.")

Ammunition types:

Army.mil reports the following:

Photo Credit: Photo courtesy U.S. Army
The XM25 CDTE fires 25 mm grenades that are set to explode in mid-air at or near the target. A laser rangefinder in the weapon is used to determine the distance to the target. The user can manually adjust the detonating distance by up to 10 feet (3.0 m) shorter or longer; the XM25 automatically transmits the detonating distance to the grenade in the firing chamber. The grenade tracks the distance it has traveled by the number of spiral rotations after it is fired, then detonates at the proper distance to produce an air burst effect.

Commentary:

AR15? You call that a gun? That's not a gun...THIS is a gun!

Here we have an indirect fire weapon with a mission scope including crowd control. An individual with this weapon replaces a mortar or small cannon. The XM25 is much more lethal than a machine gun. Woe are they who stand on the wrong end of this weapon, a weapon from which you cannot hide or shield yourself.

Per our Second Amendment rights, we want these for personal defense during the zombie apocalypse. We would even accept it with a small ten round magazine. It is time for the "Firepower Equality" movement!

For more on recent gun control issues Left Coast Rebel reviews Obama Statement vs the Constitution.

Update 3/19/2013: 

This post was held back because it has been unclear how the XM25 was going to be introduced to the public. When police are issued these for crowd control, it will be a major shock to the public. A narrative has been needed to present this weapon. The narrative now seems obvious... mortars are just too dangerous for our troops.

The Pentagon is now banning 60mm mortar rounds as the XM25 becomes available.

Brig. Gen. Jim Lukeman said investigators were trying to determine the cause of the malfunction. 

The Pentagon expanded a temporary ban to prohibit the military from firing any 60 mm mortar rounds until the results of the investigation. The Marine Corps said Tuesday a "blanket suspension" of 60 mm mortars and associated firing tubes is in effect. 

The Pentagon earlier had suspended use of all high-explosive and illumination mortar rounds that were in the same manufacturing lots as ones fired in Nevada.

Update 3/20/2013: The Plot thickens...

On Feb 2, there was a second XM25 malfunction in Afghanistan. The information was released 3/5/2013 as Army Removes XM25 from Service after Incident

A soldier was injured during a Feb. 2 live-fire training event during which the primer of a 25mm high-explosive air burst round ignited as a result of a double feed, according to Army spokesman Matthew Bourke.

Although the primer and propellant were initiated, safety mechanisms prevented the round’s warhead from detonating. The gun was inoperable after the explosion.

...

Alliant Techsystems, Inc (ATK) was awarded a $65.8 million contract in 2011 and another $18.8 million contract in 2012 by the Army’s PEO Soldier for engineering and manufacturing development of the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System.

ATK’s spokesperson referred all questions to Army Public Affairs.

Prior to the accident, the XM25 was very popular among soldiers who dubbed it “the Punisher.” The head of PEO Soldier at the time, Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller, called it “a revolutionary weapon … a game changer.”

...Via commenter on Military.com:

The enemy in Afghanistan is shooting at us from beyond the 40mm effective range. The 40mm doesn't have the same accuracy as the XM25 at 400m. 40mm can be defeated by overhead cover where as the 25mm coming through the bunker aperture or window provides significant overmatch. Sometimes the environment is different between LE[Law Enforcement] and military.

Update 8/17/2013:

The XM25 should be ready for full scale deployment in August 2014, per Defensetech.org At that time, the weapon system will be renamed:

 “We’d take the X off,” Lt. Col. Shawn Lucas, the Product Manager Individual Weapons, said in an Army press release. “It’s no longer experimental; it’d be the M25.”

Weapons officials maintain that developing the airburst weapon separately will ultimately field a game-changing weapon to infantry units.

“It’s a leap ahead, something that has never before been resident in the squad, or really our small tactical formations, squads, platoons or companies,” Lucas said. “That’s the ability to engage, and have effects on targets that are in defilade.(cover)”