New Army "Caliber Configuration Study"

[stanc]

Think about it: Direct line-of-sight small arms cannot hit a Taliban behind a boulder who only pops out to launch an RPG or fire a burst from his PKM. You laze his boulder and explode an air-burst 40mm grenade 1 meter beyond it, above his head, your kill probability increases.

John, I'm very familiar with the theory, having read the US Army's Small Arms Master Plan, and written several articles on it.

My point is that we don't actually know how well the theory translates into reality.

IIRC, the max range on the 25mm round is only 700 meters, and that's against area targets; against point targets (i.e., individuals), 500 meters. That's far short of the maximum stand-off with the PKM and RPG attacks. Would a medium-velocity 40mm grenade achieve a 1000-meter range against point targets?

P.S. It was Tony who noted the Chinese advances in shoulder-fired grenade launchers. But, AFAIK, none of them fire airburst rounds.