Videogame gun made real

[Smooth Groove]

Looks like something out of MGS.  I wanna join the military just to try it out. 



http://www.defensetech.org/archives/004440.html


It's a weapon that can take out a bad guy behind a wall, beyond a hill or below a trench, and do it more accurately and with less collateral damage than anything on the battlefield today, officials say. It's called the XM25 Individual Air Burst Weapon, and by next month the service will have three prototypes of the precision-guided 25mm rifle ready for testing.

The XM25 is about as long as a collapsed M4, weighs about as much as an M16 with an M203 grenade launcher attached and has about as much kick as a 12-gauge shotgun, said Barb Muldowney, Army deputy program manager for infantry combat weapons.

Brains are what really makes this Buck Rogers gun work -- it has them. The weapon combines a thermal optic, day-sight, laser range finder, compass and IR illuminator with a fire-control system that wirelessly transmits the exact range of the target into the 25mm round's fuse before firing.

A Soldier can aim the XM25 at a wall concealing a sniper, for example, but "dial in" or adjust the distance by an additional meter above the target. When fired, the Alliant Teksystems-built round will explode above the enemy's position, essentially going around the obstruction, Muldowney said.

[MrAngryFace]

OLD boom

[drew]

this thing is pretty badass.  The gun itself costs $25,000 each, and each wireless bullet costs 25 bucks each, ammunition comes in 12 color coded flavors depending on what you want to die or horribly mangel with self-aware shrapnel. 

[Positive Touch]

who actually uses these fancy guns?  special forces?

[Joe Molotov]

I was hoping for the Cranial Bore.

[drew]

who actually uses these fancy guns?  special forces?

Marines most likely, and it's not going to take the place of any standard rifles in iraq.  probably just one man per squad, unit or whatever with one in a backpack.  this isn't GRAW, you're not going to have an endless supply of disposable exotic weapons... think "Sniper for delicate situations like shooting a bullet through an entire iraqi town just to blow the asshole clean out of a terrorists body." and you've got a rough idea.



   (those are tears of joy)