Grenade Launchers
The XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement (CDTE) System is an air burst grenade launcher derived from the XM29 OICW. (Us DoD)
ber 2008. The unit was officially fielded in July 2009 at Fort Bragg, North Caroline, by the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. The M320 is based on the earlier Heckler and Koch AG-C, but with some US Army specific modifications, including a folding foregrip and shorter barrel for a more compact package. The sights had to be reconfigured to shoot accurately with the slightly different ballistics from the shorter barrel length. Development of what was first designated XM320 began as part of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon’s (OICW) Increment 1 (later XM29). The M320 operates in double-action mode, with an ambidextrous safety (in case of misfire, the M320 operator merely has to pull the trigger again), while the M203 used a single-action mode, which cocks the weapon as the barrel is opened. The M320
The Belgium stand-alone launcher grenade FN Hertal FN40GL-S. (FN Herstal)
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is designed for attachment to the M16A4 rifle, while the M320A1 is designed for attachment to the M4 carbine. Both weapons are generally referred to only as the M320 and the basic weapon can also be used in a stand-alone configuration (M320 GLM/Grenade Launcher Module), which includes a collapsible buttstock.. On May 2010, testing was being conducted to reduce the size and weight of the Day/Night Sight. Heckler and Koch Defense, Inc. of Ashburn, Virginia, was awarded on 19 May 2010, a $13,700,000 firmfixed-price contract for the acquisition of 5.400 M320A1 grenade launchers and 600 M320 grenade launchers. Work was to be performed in Oberndorf, Germany (50 percent), Columbus, Georgia (30 percent), and Ashburn, Virginia (20 percent), with an estimated completion date of 31 March 2011. The U. S. Army ARDEC began development of a 40 mm airburst fuse in 2011 to improve the ability of grenade launchers M320 to engage targets in defilade. Called Small Arms Grenade Munitions (SAGM), they double the lethality of the standard M433 grenade round by adding a small “smart� fuse sensor that detonates in the air to hit targets in cover or behind obstacles. The airburst function is similar to the XM25 CDTE (Counter Defilade Target Engagement, also known as the Punisher and Individual Semiautomatic Air Burst System), which has an onboard laser system to determine the distance to the target, but SAGM is considered complementary to the XM25 rather than competing against it, as the XM25 pro-
The Belgiun FN Herstal FN40GL developped in concert with the SCAR assault Rifle. (FN Herstal) EDR - September / October 2015