New U.S. Army Rifle.
The MXT135 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System has a range of roughly 7,800 feet - and is to be deployed in Afghanistan soon. I would call it the “Equalizer.” Some call it the “Punisher.” The rifle’s gun sight uses a laser range finder to determine the exact distance to the obstruction, after which the soldier can add or subtract up to 10 meters from that distance to enable the bullets to clear the barrier and explode above or beside the target.
Soldiers will be able to use them to target snipers hidden in trenches rather than calling in air strikes. The 35-millimeter round contains a chip that receives a radio signal from the gun sight as to the precise distance to the target.
Lt. Col. Christopher Lehner, project manager for the system, described the weapon as a ‘game-changer’ that other nations will try and copy. The Army plans to buy 42,500 of the MXT135 rifles this year, enough for every member of the infantry and special forces, at a cost of $11,900.00 each. Lehner told Fox News: “With this weapon system, we take away cover from [enemy targets] forever. Tactics are going to have to be rewritten. The only thing we can see [enemies] being able to do is run away.”
Experts say the rifle means that enemy troops will no longer be safe if they take cover. The MXT135 appears to be the perfect weapon for street-to-street fighting that troops in Afghanistan have to engage in, with enemy fighters hiding behind walls and only breaking cover to fire occasionally. The weapon’s laser finder would work out how far away the enemy was and then the U.S. Soldier would add one meter using a button near the trigger.
When fired, the explosive round would carry exactly one meter past the wall and explode with the force of a hand grenade above the Taliban fighter.
The army’s p