[OT] Military (non-political) discussion of Iraq war

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by Aloofi:
Have you guys seen the XM-29 assault rifle?
Its absolutely awesome, it fires HE 20mm rounds and conventional 5.56mm. It have selective detonation distance, laser ranger, thermovision, etc.
Biggest problem I see in the limited info avaliable is the weight, 18 lbs, though they are promising to get it down to 14, which still too much in my opinion.
If you match this toy with the Land Warrior......

I've heard of it, but not seen any detailed information. This 'remote detonation' thing promises another revolution in combat. It amounts to the ability to shoot around corners even without special payloads. Once you can fire tear-gas or other fancy stuff it becomes really powerful. One article I remember reading said that the troops equipped with this in combat exercises regularly achieved victory over equal forces with zero casualties on their own side. While exercises and 'real life' often have synchronization problems, there is some value in tests like this or they would not be done.

At 14 pounds it is a bit heavy, but it's not so different from other 'special' weapons like machine guns or anti-tank missiles carried by a few specialist soldiers in a unit.

Combine this with some of the other new technology, like the light/soft body armor that is actually able to stop military rounds (in use right NOW in Iraq! Any more questions why our casualty rate is so low?), and US troops will become unbelievably superior to other armed forces. Until and unless other countries develop comparable technologies. This would be good if the current administration weren't so scary. Right now I'm not so sure it's 'good'...

[ April 15, 2003, 17:54: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]