US Army testing gun that can take out ' bad guys' hiding around corners

Washington, May 29 (ANI): The U.S. Army is set to start testing a computerized, high-tech projectile launcher that can take out bad guys hiding around corners and in caves or trenches, even if they are out of a soldier's line of sight.

Experts have called it the "Judge Dredd" gun, after the Sylvester Stallone movie, but the Pentagon calls it the XM-25 Individual Air Burst Weapon, which uses a laser rangefinder to precisely measure the distance to a target, then primes a fuse on a timed grenade so that the projectile explodes exactly where it should.

"The way a soldier operates this is you basically find your target, then laze to it, which gives the range, then you get an adjusted aim point, adjust fire and pull the trigger," Fox News quoted deputy program manager Richard Audette as telling the Army News Service.

With a range of 750 meters - nearly half a mile - the XM-25 would also be very effective in Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters often hide behind rocks and in caves.

In addition to precision-timed grenades, the gun is also built to fire armor-piercing, door-breaching, anti-personnel and less-than-lethal rounds. (ANI)