The XM307 Advanced Crew Served Weapon (ACSW) was a developmental 25 mm belt-fed automatic grenade launcher with programmable

airburst An air burst or airburst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target. The principal military advantage of an air burst over ...

capability. It is the result of the ''

OCSW The OCSW (''Objective Crew Served Weapon'') was a U.S. Military arms program started in the 1980s that led to a hybrid smaller prototype automatic autocannon developed by General Dynamics Armament Systems. It led to the XM312 and XM307 designs. As ...

'' or ''Objective Crew Served Weapon'' project. It is lightweight and designed to be two-man portable, as well as vehicle mounted. The XM307 can kill or suppress enemy combatants out to 2,000 meters (2,187 yd), and destroy lightly

armored vehicle Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, shells, rockets, and missiles, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured ...

watercraft Any vehicle used in or on water as well as underwater, including boats, ships, hovercraft and submarines, is a watercraft, also known as a water vessel or waterborne vessel. A watercraft usually has a propulsive capability (whether by sail, ...

, and

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s at 1,000 meters (1,094 yd). The project was canceled in 2007.

Overview

The system was under development by General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products for the U.S. Army

Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command The United States Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), and its subordinate Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC),

(TACOM). As a part of the ''Small Arms Master Plan'' (SAMP) program, it is intended to either replace or supplement the Mk19 automatic grenade launcher and the M2 heavy machine gun. It fires 25 mm point-detonating and air burst style ammunition, including HE, and

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

at a cyclic rate of 260 rounds per minute and has an effective range up to 2 kilometers. The primary feature of the XM307 is its attenuated

recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force r ...

system. The weapon controls recoil to a degree that a large

tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...

and heavy

sandbag A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunkers, shielding gl ...

s are not required to effectively employ this weapon. Because of its reduced recoil impulse and light weight, other mounting options are possible, such as small unmanned vehicles and aircraft. The XM307's airburst rounds make it much easier to bypass walls protecting enemies that could cause

collateral damage Collateral damage is any death, injury, or other damage inflicted that is an incidental result of an activity. Originally coined by military operations, it is now also used in non-military contexts. Since the development of precision guided ...

if fired upon directly. Operators do not have to shoot through the wall, just through an opening or over the top to kill the people behind the cover, leaving the structure of the building intact. An additional feature of the XM307 is that it can be converted into the

XM312 The XM312 is a heavy machine gun derived from the XM307 25 mm autocannon and chambered for the .50 BMG cartridge. It was designed in response to a request by the U.S. military for a replacement for the aging M2 Browning heavy machine gun, ...

, a 12.7 mm (.50)-caliber version for

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

and light anti-armor support in under two minutes (1 minute, 42 seconds). 25mm TP ACSW projectile

Specifications

System *''Weight'': 50 lb (22.5 kg) (gun, mount, and fire control) *''Fire Control'': full solution, day/night *''Portability'': two-man portable and vehicle mountable *''Stability'': up to 18 inch (457 mm) tripod height *''Environmental'': operationally insensitive to conditions Gun *''Dimensions'': 9.9 W × 7.2 H × 52.3 L max inches (43.3 L charged) / 251 mm × 183 mm × 1328 mm (1100 mm charged) *''Rate of Fire'': 250 rounds per minute, automatic *''Dispersion'': less than 1.5 mils, one sigma radius *''Range'': lethal and suppressive out to 2,000 m *''Ammunition'': high-explosive airbursting, armor-piercing, and training ammunition (HE, AP, TP, TP-S) *''Feed System'': weapon-mountable ammunition can (left feed)

Variants

A Remotely Operated Variant (ROV) for the

Future Combat Systems Future Combat Systems (FCS) was the United States Army's principal modernization program from 2003 to early 2009. Formally launched in 2003, FCS was envisioned to create new brigades equipped with new manned and unmanned vehicles linked by an unpr ...

family of vehicles is also under development.XM307 Ma-Deuce Replacement Gets More Investment
/ref> The weapon system, which would be mounted on the vehicle, will be remotely operated from within the vehicle.

Program status

In May 2004, the development phase was funded through FY 2007. In December 2005 funding was granted for a

remotely operated vehicle A remotely operated underwater vehicle (technically ROUV or just ROV) is a tethered underwater mobile device, commonly called ''underwater robot''. Definition This meaning is different from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the a ...

variant. However, in 2007 the project was canceled due to the low rate of fire of the prototypes.

References

External links

Discovery Website - XM307 video clip

* ttp://world.guns.ru/grenade/gl24-e.htm XM307 ACSW Advanced Crew-Served Weapon - Modern Firearms
General Dynamics: Fact Sheet on the XM307
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xm307 Advanced Crew Served Weapon Grenade launchers of the United States Automatic grenade launchers Autocannon Abandoned military projects of the United States