The XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System
has a range of roughly 2,300 feet, and is to be deployed
in Afghanistan this month.
The rifle's gun sight uses a laser rangefinder to determine
the exact distance to the obstruction, after which the soldier
can add or subtract up to 3 meters from that distance to
enable the bullets to clear the barrier and explode above
or beside the target.
Soldiers will be able to use them to target snipers hidden in trenches rather than calling in air strikes.
The 25-millimetre round contains a chip that receives a radio signal from the gun sight as to the precise distance to the target.
Lt. Col. Christopher Lehner, project manager for the system, described the weapon as a 'game-changer' that other nations
will try and copy. He expects the Army to buy 12,500 of the
XM25 rifles this year.
Lehner told Fox News, 'With this weapon system, we take away cover from [enemy targets] forever. Tactics are going to have
to be rewritten. The only thing we can see [enemies] being
able to do is run away..'
Experts say the rifle means that enemy troops will no
longer be safe if they take cover.
The XM25 appears perfect weapon for street-to-street
fighting that troops in Afghanistan have to engage in,
with enemy fighters hiding behind walls and only breaking
cover to fire occasionally. The weapon's laser finder would
work out how far away the enemy was and then the U.S.
soldier would add one meter using a button near the trigger.
When fired, the explosive round would carry exactly one meter past the wall and explode with the force of a hand grenade
above the Taliban fighter.
The army's project manager for new weapons, Douglas Tamilio, said, ''This is the first leap-ahead technology for troops that we've been able to develop and deploy.."
A patent granted to the bullet's maker, Alliant Techsystems, reveals that the chip can calculate how far it has travelled.
Mr Tamilio said, 'You could shoot a Javelin missile, and it
would cost $43,000. These rounds will end up costing $15.50 apiece. They're relatively cheap.
Lehner added, 'This is a game-changer. The enemy has learned to get cover, for hundreds if not thousands of years. Well, they can't do that anymore. We're taking that cover from them and there's only two outcomes: We're going to get you behind that cover
or force you to flee.'
The rifle will initially use high-explosive rounds, but it's
makers say that it might later use versions with smaller
explosive charges that aim to stun rather than kill.