New 40mm AIR BURST, SHOTGUN, and BREACHING Rounds Being Developed by US Army for URBAN Combat [NDIA 2017]
At the 2017 National Defense Industry Association small arms conference in April, the US Army revealed its efforts to produce new improved varieties of 40mm low velocity ammunition for the M203 and M320 grenade launchers. Product Director for Medium Caliber Ammunition Christopher Seacord’s presentation at NDIA lists three new types of 40mm ammunition: XM1166 High Explosive Air Burst (HEAB), XM1167 Door Breach (DB), and XM1168 Short Range Anti-Personnel (SRAP):
Not many details are given in the presentations about these three rounds, but some things are apparent. The XM1166 HEAB round appears to be very similar in desired capability to the 25mm airburst round developed for the now-cancelled XM25 Counter-Defilade Target Engagement (CDTE) weapon, called the “Punisher” colloquially. Wrapping the technology demonstrated by the XM25 program into the existing tried-and-true 40mm grenade launchers is in my opinion an excellent decision that could provide all of the desired capability with far lower risk.
The XM1167 Door Breaching round would provide an important capability for the infantry, as it would allow grenadiers to perform breaching functions without the need to carry shotguns for that purpose. It seems likely that the XM1167 would be the same grenade as (or one of similar design to) the Chemring 40mm breaching grenades tested late last year.
The result of a breaching test with a 40mm Chemring grenade. US Army photo, public domain
Rounding out the lineup, The 40mm XM1168 SRAP round appears to be a successor to the Vietnam-era 40mm M576 buckshot round.
Nathaniel is a history enthusiast and firearms hobbyist whose primary interest lies in military small arms technological developments beginning with the smokeless powder era. He can be reached via email at nathaniel.f@staff.thefirearmblog.com.
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does the design include any new ordinance long distance anti-personnel round? LRAP?
If users of the M320 say that they want to carry it as a standalone weapon but with more range, then I don't know why H&K hasn't made a version with a longer barrel than the underbarrel version. The older M79 had a longer range than the M203 because its barrel was longer. A longer barrel also opens up the possibility of using longer projectiles like unguided rocket-boosted grenades.
The door breaching version looks to me more like a "barrier-blind" round that is supposed to penetrate light cover in general rather than just doors. But breaching doors the old-fashioned way with a shotgun usually has less collateral damage if you're using dedicated breaching rounds, and the right shotgun can be a very useful CQB weapon too. Sometimes blowing up infrastructure willy-nilly isn't good for your public image, because replacing just a door is both cheaper and easier than removing shrapnel from the whole room or hallway behind it. A shotgun door breach followed by a flashbang or other grenade works similarly well.
The Russians have had their caseless 40mm grenades for a long time too, which means they don't have to extract the empty casings from their grenade launchers, making tje loading process quicker compared to western grenade launchers. Odd that NATO forces didn't adopt anything like that soon after the Russians did.