Since time immemorial, people have been fighting from behind walls, sandbags, and foxholes, and the armies in question have been dealing with the same problem all along: how to get to an enemy who has hidden himself away beyond the line of sight? Be it the mud of the First World War trenches or the cramped alleys of recent urban warfare, cover has always been the most unflattering of all judges to the incoming fire — until the day when someone comes up with a way to make hiding less safe.
The XM25 was conceived as the means to bring down such a barrier at the squad level. The goal was to empower lone infantrymen with the weapons of their own to force out or kill the opponents hiding even behind the tiniest pieces of cover without resorting to indirect artillery or any other heavier support. The XM25 of Orbital ATK was a man-portable, semi-automatic system that could fire 25 mm programmable airburst projectiles just like a soldier on foot firing a smart grenade launcher.
The XM25 wasn’t simply a big one-thrower put together in a rush; the weapon was complemented with a laser rangefinder and a fire-control pack, which allowed the operator to select a target, e.g., the lip of a window or the edge of a trench, then determine the distance and program the round for entering the space at the exact spot. So the fragments flew in the enemies’ refuge area, where they couldn’t expect to be hit, which was something standard rifles and older launchers couldn’t even come close to doing.
Thanks to the use of electronics and the long range, the XM25 really was a completely different weapon. It was capable of hitting a point target at a distance of several hundred meters – for instance, the numbers that are often mentioned are about 600 meters for shots of high precision and 700 for engaging an area – and its aiming system combined thermal imaging, ballistic calculation, and a digital display. The rounds carried tiny pieces of tech inside that detected their rotation and set off self-destruction at just the right moment as calculated by the gun’s computer.
When it was initially put to limited combat use, the reaction of the troops was quite powerful. The first missions in Afghanistan, stan where only a few units received limited sets and a few thousand rounds – among them the elements of the 101st Airborne – generated reports of the weapon radically changing soldiers’ mindset about enemy positions.
On the grounds of such stories, the weapon quickly gained a reputation for being a potential close-in infantry game-changer as it was frequently cited that opponents using airbursts were being driven out of windows or cover fighting positions.
Nevertheless, the practical side of the matter was that the XM25 did have some disadvantages, which gradually ruffled the enthusiasm of people towards it. Firstly, it was still quite heavy for a soldier who already had a rifle, ammo, and other gear on him – the launcher, even without any rounds, was over 14 pounds, and a loaded combat kit with several dozen rounds could be almost 35 pounds or so.
For a lot of small units, the difference mattered – mobility, stamina, and logistics are very ruthless – and some units walked off with the decision of not taking it with them on the patrol in the place of lighter and more familiar weapons.
The problems of program management, along with cost, only piled on top of those found in the field. The development process escalated their prices per unit, thus making quite a large procurement of such weapons more difficult, and in 2017, the service terminated the contract due to issues with production and delivery. Although the failures were severe, they did not totally abandon the idea, but limited how widely the system could be spread.
Notwithstanding, the XM25 did not fail to leave a very clear footprint behind. User feedback generated by field trials ranged widely — from suggestions that involved ergonomics, reliability, and electronics — and quite a bit of that feedback has been incorporated into subsequent developments. The Precision Grenadier pro, gram as well as other efforts in the counter-defilade, really explicitly acknowledge the XM25 as the source of their being feasible: a lighter, more rugged counter-cover weapon with probable practical engagement range and a pallet of specialty rounds.
In the end, the XM25 was not a magic bullet to overcome every issue related to fighting in a complicated terrain. Still, it was only a very noticeable and candid step forward — a switch in conceptual arguments of how to counter foes who still hold such beliefs, as protective shelters did not provide any safety. The “Punisher” is perhaps no more in service, but its central premise — that cover should never again be a guarantee of safety — prevails as it gradually becomes more and more influential in the evolution of infantry weaponry.