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US deploys 'game-changer' weapon to Afghanistan (126 hits)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – It looks and acts like something best left in the hands of Sylvester Stallone's "Rambo," but this latest dream weapon is real -- and the US Army sees it becoming the Taliban's worst nightmare.

The Pentagon has rolled out prototypes of its first-ever programmable "smart" grenade launcher, a shoulder-fired weapon that uses microchipped ammunition to target and kill the enemy, even when the enemy is hidden behind walls or other cover.

After years of development, the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System, about the size of a regular rifle, has now been deployed to US units on the battlefields of Afghanistan, where the Army expects it to be a "game-changer" in its counterinsurgency operations.

"For well over a week, it's been actively on patrols, and in various combat outposts in areas that are hot," said Lieutenant Colonel Chris Lehner, program manager for the XM25.

The gun's stats are formidable: it fires 25mm air-bursting shells up to 2,300 feet (700 meters), well past the range of most rifles used by today's soldiers, and programs them to explode at a precise distance, allowing troops to neutralize insurgents hiding behind walls, rocks or trenches or inside buildings.

"This is the first time we're putting smart technology into the hands of the individual soldier," Lehner told AFP in a telephone interview.

"It's giving them the edge," he said, in the harsh Afghan landscape where Islamist extremists have vexed US troops using centuries-old techniques of popping up from behind cover to engage.

"You get behind something when someone is shooting at you, and that sort of cover has protected people for thousands of years," Lehner said.

"Now we're taking that away from the enemy forever."

PEO Soldier says studies show the XM25 is 300 percent more effective than current weapons at the squad level.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/afp/sc_af...

Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Wednesday, December 1st 2010 at 1:12PM
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this is good for the troops lest kia and more dia im sure there are smiles on the faces of our combat solders whooooooo raaaaaaa devil dogs usmc fearless warriors o311 unit 164 !
Wednesday, December 1st 2010 at 1:14PM
DAVID JOHNSON

the United States might need to jettison
the concept of counterinsurgency in favor of the broader
concept of stabilization and transformation operations.
This would help clarify strategy and priorities. In
particular, it would reinforce the idea that military
force is a secondary factor in counterinsurgency. It is
not warfighting simply against irregular enemies.
In the final reckoning, the U.S. effort in Iraq has
had a number of problems. We used flawed strategic
assumptions, did not plan adequately, and had
a doctrinal void. There was a mismatch between
strategic ends and means applied to them. By signaling
in advance that we would go so far and no further,
by taking escalation off the table in the insurgency's
early months, we made it easier for the insurgents to
convince themselves and their supporters that their
ability to weather punishment outstrips the willingness
of the United States to impose it. By failing to prepare
for counterinsurgency in Iraq and by failing to avoid it,
the United States has increased the chances of facing it
again in the near future. We did not establish security
before attempting transformation, thus allowing
the insurgency to reach a point of psychological
“set” which was difficult to reverse fairly quickly.
Linking the conflict in Iraq to the global war on terror
skewed the normal logic of strategy. By approaching
counterinsurgency as a type of warfighting during its
first year, we reverted to a strategy of attrition which
did not work.
Wednesday, December 1st 2010 at 2:45PM
DAVID JOHNSON

During the past 5 years, American strategy has
undergone a sea change, shifting from a focus on the
conventional military forces of rogue or rising states
to irregular challenges associated with the “long war”
against transnational jihadism. Much of the new thinking
has resulted from the conflict in Iraq.
One result of this has been an attempt to relearn
counterinsurgency by the U.S. military. While the
involvement of the United States in counterinsurgency
has a long history, it had faded in importance in
the years following the end of the Cold War. When
American forces first confronted it in Iraq, they were
not fully prepared. Since then, the U.S. military and
other government agencies have expended much effort
to refine their counterinsurgency capabilities. But have
they done enough?
Wednesday, December 1st 2010 at 4:11PM
DAVID JOHNSON

backs to relying solely on a single case study such as this one.5 A single
case is a limited laboratory for identifying those capabilities that are
effective across a range of counterinsurgencies, since conditions can
vary across countries. For example, several factors beyond the quality
of the indigenous government and its forces can impact the outcome
of counterinsurgency: geography (such as mountainous terrain);
degree of urbanization; ethnic, tribal, or religious fissures within the
state; and economic conditions.6 In a single case study, there is rarely
variation across these factors. Afghanistan, for instance, has rugged
mountains in much of the country; a large rural population; a range
of ethnic and tribal groups; and poor economic conditions. Consequently,
a study of Afghanistan cannot provide a definitive assessment
of what types of military and nonmilitary capabilities might be useful
against insurgents operating among a homogenous population living
in the jungle or in major cities.7 What may work in Afghanistan may
not work in all other countries.
5
Thursday, December 2nd 2010 at 6:54PM
DAVID JOHNSON

@Clark, we so bad until we just ignored how the French had just gotten kicked out of Nam and Russia had just gotten kicked out of Afgan...and, since the Talaban is being financed by tose poppy fields then why not cut off a major source of killing Americans at one time..we are the leading in buying these drugs are we not...

and, may I also add taht yesterday out side of Beale Air Force's maingate (a mile from where I live) there were some protestors from a few different states protesting Drone missiles (Code Pink women for peace AND THE cENTER FOR pEACE) and this is some of what they had to say...and, yes the Teaparty was there to protest againts the protestors...

"KILL THE DRONES NOT INNOCENT PEOPLE"..."EVERY TIME THEY BOMB A WEDDING THEY ARE SUCIDE BOMBERS"...
(nup...but smile as there is only one way to bring peace and it is not with W-A-R)
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA