Until recently, the development of individual small arms for a soldier followed its own path, separate from the latest technologies. Electronics in the layout of assault rifles and assault rifles were either not used at all, or were used very limited - mainly in the design of optical and night sights. But the reduction in size, cost and resource intensity in the production of electronic components, as well as full-fledged computing systems made it possible to use them not only in military equipment, but also for the modernization and creation of completely new models of small arms of the modern soldier. The history of the creation of a promising XM25 assault rifle for the US Army can serve as the latest technology.
The development of the XM25 began as part of the 1990 OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon) project, according to which a promising automatic grenade launcher system was created by 2003, with the same name as the name of the project. The main feature of the new system was the use of 20-mm HEAB (High Explosive, Air Burst) ammunition - high-explosive fragmentation, with detonation in the air and an optoelectronic complex that combines day and night channels, a laser rangefinder, a ballistic computer, a compass and external interfaces for setting the time of detonation of each ammunition.
At the beginning of 2003, successful test firing of the OICW system took place, as a result of which the US Army officially assigned the XM-29 index to the OICW system (M-29 after being put into service). As a result of an analysis of the effectiveness of the HEAB ammunition, the optoelectronic complex and the OICW system as a whole, it was decided to freeze the OICW project and start work on the XM25.
From OICW, the novelty got a modernized 25-mm ammunition and an optoelectronic complex. As a result, a kind of self-loading magazine weapon was obtained, which allows the use of various ammunition: high-explosive fragmentation with air detonation, armor-piercing, shot, non-lethal ammunition, non-lethal action with air detonation, and even anti-personnel mines. Such a wide range of ammunition allows the XM25 to be used not only as a semi-automatic grenade launcher, but also as a large-caliber assault rifle.
The XM25 automatics uses the energy of powder gases discharged from a side channel in the barrel, which is locked by a rotary bolt. The weapon is built according to the "bullpup" scheme - the receiver and the store are located behind the fire control handle. The body of the weapon is made of plastic. The trigger guard covers the entire hand, its front part is designed as an additional handle for holding the weapon and is equipped with control buttons for the aiming complex. All this made it possible to reduce the weight of the weapon to 5.5 kg, and the size, to the size of the M4 carbine.
The cost of one XM25 at the time of adoption will range from $ 25,000 to $ 30,000. Army tests of the XM25 began in March and will last until the end of the year. If the results turn out to be positive, then in 2014 the new weapon will be put into service and will begin to enter the troops.