WAVE OF THE FUTURE: The XM-8 Battle Rifle

by **Hellacious** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 10:56 am

Check this out..

WAVE OF THE FUTURE: The XM-8 Battle Rifle

http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_XM8,,00.html?ESRC=soldiertech.nl

:ar15:

by **CodeRed68** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:16 am

awesome! i want one !

by **PudriK** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 1:24 am

Read an article in Navy Times or Soundings about this rifle... they have a lot of former grunts on the team ensuring it will meet the needs of the soldier on the ground.

Now... how long is it going to take to field this weapon?

Also covered in the article, H&K is buildling the factory to make these guns in the US, so they will be "Made in the USA."

by **SavageParrot** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 8:31 am

It's pretty cool, shame they had to style it on the super soaker though.

by **LordShard** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 11:58 am

Heh. well I think the styling is ok. The army needs cool looking guns that match their uniforms right?

by **frankk6969** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 12:45 pm

Heres some videos showing what this gun can do.
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?s=1-292925-xm8.php

by Conscious* » Sat Jun 05, 2004 2:09 pm

US is already adpoting a new military standard issue in 2008. It's a heavier gun with a grenade launcher at the bottom. Its most important feature is that it uses laser technology, when in single shot mode it sends lasers to where the gun is pointing and measures the distance and with small buttons you can choose where the round explodes, thus making it possible to shoot enemies that are taking cover behind walls. I saw it on the history channel.

by **Mr. Slayer** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:07 pm

I believe I saw the same episode. They had many interesting new-fasioned weapons such as guns that can fire 1,000,000 rounds a minute. Don't even ask me why you would need such a gun.

-Slayer

by **Colonel Ingus** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:12 pm

Cool looking advertisement

This is basically the 5.56 portion of the M29 without the 20mm grenade launcher and sighting system. The 20mm GL and sighting system are the true advancements in the M29 weapon system.

The M29 or OICW has an integral 6 shot 20 mm grenade launcher that is controlled by a firing computer that will set the fuzeof the round to detonate at specified ranges, such as right past a corner that bad guys are hiding behind or thru a window into the room that the bad guys are in. These capabilities are tied into the scope/sighting system of the weapon which includes a laser rangefiinder, 6x scope, a video camera, nightvision and who knows what else.

Those portions of the gun were designed and patented by Alliant Techsystems and not H+K. So this is basically H+K marketing the 5.56 portion of the weapon system with some add-on's that aren't up to what the M29 is capable of. Would you prefer a single shot 40mm dumb fire grenade or a 6 round clip of 20mm Airburst or HE smart rounds?

This is all speculation of course. Both these weapon systems look impressive on paper but no weapon system is practical until it is actually used in the field and proven effective. The true evaluators on any weapon system is the guys in the field that live or die by them.

by **Dakana** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:20 pm

So it's a sniper rifle, assault rifle, heavy machine gun, shotgun, grenade launcher, and looks cool.

Sounds good. I want one.

by **Jeffro** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:28 pm

Originally posted by frankk6969
Heres some videos showing what this gun can do.
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?s=1-292925-xm8.php

Great video footage, however, it runs at 1 frame per second.

by **PudriK** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 11:07 pm

From what I've read, the reason the XM-8 was developed form the OICW was that they were having a lot of problems with the electronics in the 20mm cannon of the OICW. Don't believe everything you see on the history channel or read in Popular Science... the military develops a lot of things all the way to prototype stage or even a small order fielding, without them becoming the standard.

Last I read, the OICW was still in the works, but postponed for a while... and the XM-8 is looking like the model for the next replacement. There is still some debate over the caliber, however, since a lot of former grunts are calling fro something larger, like 7.62mm. The same article I referred to above mentioned they had built some prototype XM-8s firing 7.62.

Slayer, the gun you are probably refering to is .... damn, the name's escaping me, but you would need it for point defense against incoming missles. We already discussed this a while ago, but it would be used similarly to the CIWS ("Phalanx") system now used onboard ships, which is a high rate-of-fire gattling gun used to basically disinitgrate incoming missles.

Photo of Phalanx Gun

PS Watching the videos... this is a great gun! Gotta love the ease of assembly, the storage spot for the pins, completely ambidextrous operation, the mags that are translucent and can lock together side-by-side, fires dirty and wet, and fireable one-handed full-auto! Kick Ass! Too bad it'll probably be 2030 before the Coast Guard ever sees these.

WAVE OF THE FUTURE: The XM-8 Battle Rifle

WAVE OF THE FUTURE: The XM-8 Battle Rifle

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