The U.S. Army has announced that the MARS Inc, Barrett team has been selected as the winner of the xTech Soldier Lethality competition. The competition was done on a highly accelerated basis over six months. The system of semi-automatic launcher, optic, and projectiles is known as the Precision Grenadier System or PG22.
The rifled grenade launcher prototype will fire a 30x42mm sophisticated grenade cartridge. The projectile will be capable of being programmed while loaded in the rifle. The rifle is semi-automatic with a five-round magazine. The rifle weighs just short of 14 lbs, without the optics.
The weight of the XM 157 optics was not announced, but it is probably in the 2-3 lb range. The optic system is sophisticated. It is said to include atmospheric sensors. It includes a laser rangefinder and ballistic calculators. This correspondent would not be surprised if it included an integrating crosswind system. If you look carefully at the rail on the image of the rifle, you can see it is at a 1.4-degree angle to the bore. This allows the optic to be more centered on the probable trajectory of these relatively low-velocity projectiles. From turdef.com:
The grenade launcher is also seen to be fitted with the XM157 optic, which is also used on the XM7 rifle, which is planned to become the U.S. Army’s new infantry rifle. The optic capable of 1-8x zoom incorporates a ballistic computer and laser range finder to improve practical accuracy at extended ranges.
The 30×42 mm grenades are being developed to be capable of reaching a range of 500 m in less than three seconds, suggesting a muzzle velocity far higher than 40×51 mm Medium Velocity grenades used on hand-held grenade launchers at 166+ m/s.
The Vietnam era M79 grenade launcher uses a 40×46 mm grenade at 77 mps or 250 fps. It is a fun weapon to shoot, with the recoil of a 20-gauge shotgun. The low velocity allows the shooter to see the grenade in flight, in many conditions. The 30×42 cartridges shown in pictures with the MARS/Barrett semi-automatic rifle appear to be about 80mm long, a bit shorter than the M79 40mm cartridges. The velocity is supposed to be more than 167 m/s. This correspondent expects it to be about 180 m/s or 550 fps. The projectiles are likely to be about the same weight, so the recoil on the MARS/Barrett will be more than twice as much. The recoil is compensated for because the new precision semi-automatic grenade launcher weighs over 15 lbs with the optic mounted. The M79 weighs a bit less than 6 lbs.
Ammunition for the PG22 will be highly sophisticated. It is to be programmable when loaded, obtaining data directly from the XM157. The ammunition types include Programmable Air Bursting High Explosive (HE), Proximity Fuzed and Point Detonating HE, as well as a Close Quarter Battle Round.
The proximity fused ammunition is expected to be useful as an anti-drone round, obviously limited to relatively low altitudes, because of the low velocity of the cartridge. It is not clear what sort of projectiles will be used in the close-quarter battle round. It is expected to be effective to 50 meters, about the same range as an ordinary shotgun with buckshot. As a shotgun, the bore would be roughly a 3-gauge. In speculation, the projectiles may be tungsten spheres or steel flechettes.
This contract is a major win for MARS Inc. and Barrett. In this highly accelerated competition, smaller companies sometimes outperform giants such as FN.
The PG22 Precision Grenadier System is expected to be fielded in two to three years. The XM157 is already in use.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
