The XM25 looks like a movie set prop or something the U.S. military would use in space – not a gun for a war against Russia or China. But the XM25 Punisher never really got a chance and was canceled very early in development. This former U.S. Army officer explained to us why that occurred:
It looked like something from a sci-fi movie such as Aliens where Warrant Officer Ripley sent rifle-fired grenades to punish a never-ending line of ugly beasts. In fact, that weapon was even called the Punisher.
Oddly enough, the US Army had its own Punisher weapon, the XM25, but sadly, it never killed much of anything. But the XM25 was still a good idea – shoot grenades during the defilade fight (think Korea’s hilly landscape) and destroy and suppress the enemy with a “bursting” capability. Due to these capabilities, perhaps the military should have stayed with the Punisher instead of canceling it.
XM25: An Interesting Concept
The XM25 fired 25mm programmable grenades enabling soldiers to control the detonation point. It was a pseudo-smart weapon with the ability to fine-tune the targeting.
For example, say friendlies wanted to target a militant behind a wall, the shooter could set the detonation point to burst on the other side of the wall instead of firing straight into it.
Same with targets on the other side of a hill, set the burst overhead.
The Punisher also had a laser rangefinder. In addition to the airburst mode, the Army thought the Punisher could eventually fire armor-piercing rounds.
Original Army testers claimed it could be a whopping “300 percent more effective” than rival grenade launchers.
Good Range and Easy to Fire
The XM25 also could fire at targets up to 800 meters away, over twice the range compared to the traditional M4-mounted M203 grenade launcher.
The XM25 had the futuristic bullpup design in which the action is behind the trigger. That makes for a shorter stock and barrel resulting in an easier way to handle the weapon.
Man-portable, semi-automatic, and fast, it looked like a weapon that would help soldiers in mountainous Afghanistan.
