US Army inks $66m deal for "Judge Dredd/Punisher" smart-rifles

G.I. prepares to "Punish" the enemy

The US Army's futuristic Judge Dredd style computer smart-rifle project, the XM-25, is moving ahead. Developer ATK, which has so far made just five prototype weapons, inked a $65.8m deal this week to move the weapon into manufacturing.The XM-25 works much as a normal rifle does, but instead of firing ordinary bullets it shoots 25mm exploding fragmentation mini-shells which are fitted with a very precise time fuse set at the moment of firing by the gun's electronics.The weapon also boasts a very sophisticated thermal-imager sighting system equipped with a laser rangefinder/pointer, temperature and pressure sensors, and a ballistic computer...
US troops in Afghanistan, who are trying out the initial five prototype weapons, apparently don't favour Judge Dredd references. They have reportedly chosen to dub the new smartgun "the Punisher" instead.
Feedback from these users has apparently been positive, with the AM-25's ability to strike out accurately and speedily at Taliban snipers or machine-gun teams lurking in cover at long range highly prized...
----Full report at The Register (UK)----
Semi-automatic technology moves forward inspired by Sci-Fi concepts. The "Punisher" is indeed bad medicine, well deserved, for kill-crazy terrorist fanatics...(S9)