Purpose:	Virtual Prototyping
Use:	Soldier Evaluation / Marketing
Development:	< 6 Months
Fielded:	Spring 2004

The America's Army teams have implemented the XM25 Air Burst Weapon System into America's Army environments. The XM25 scenario was developed for PM Individual Weapons as a virtual prototyping project for weapons concepts. Through virtual prototyping, the system can be implanted in the game environment and given to Soldiers throughout the world to try out. Soldiers can give feedback to the weapons developers. This process will help developers to build a weapon that the Soldiers want and need while saving time and money. A version of the XM25 may also appear in future versions of the public America's Army game.

The XM25 fires a 25 mm air bursting grenade. Instead of the grenade exploding on impact, it can detonate in the air after flying a pre-determined distance. The Soldier points a laser at their target (called lasing), and the weapon's fire control computer draws a crosshair onto the user's digital sight. The Soldier then places this crosshair on the target and launches the grenade. Unlike the M203 where the Soldier must practice how high to hold their weapon to hit a target, the XM25 lets the Soldier know exactly how high to aim to hit the target every time. The air bursting feature allows the user to attack opponents in hard to reach places. If the enemy is hiding behind a fence, the XM25 user lases the fence, increases the range by a meter, and then fires. By placing the crosshair above the target and fire, the grenade will explode one meter past the fence and hit the hiding enemy.