Can this gun shoot enemies over a wall? New Marine weapons options

Today on Gear Scout, we're at the Modern Day Marine Military Expo in Washington, D.C.

where the Marine Corps is looking at how it's going to destroy whatever obstacle it faces. And today we're going to look at a slew of weapons, everything from a folding machete to a grenade launcher

So we're here at Modern Day Marine with Colt to look at a new grenade launcher that could possibly replace what's in inventory now

So Doug, can you tell us a little bit about this grenade launcher? Yeah, this grenade launcher is not really new. It's been around since 2004

A little bit about the gun, it's half the weight of a Mark 19, so just the gun alone weighs 39 pounds

The whole system as you see it with the fire control is less weight than a Mark 19

Some of the features of this gun that are a little bit different from the Mark 19

and what I would consider an improvement first is it's actually shot from a closed bolt position

What's good about that is you get more accuracy and less dispersion

The other thing I really like about this system too is when you charge this system

it's 55 pounds to charge it. So a Mark 19 is 100 pounds. It's both hands

This is one hand, 55 pounds. Another good feature about this, though, is that the bolt has a ratchet system

So the bolt will not go forward prematurely like a Mark 19 and give you a jam, right

So let me show you. So as I go to pull this, if I didn't get a full charge, it stops the bolt in different positions, right

It's got a ratchet system. But once I get all the way back, it sends forward

The other thing that's good about this gun from a safety aspect is there's no headspace and timing needed, okay

unlike the mark 19. Another feature is if the barrel is not put in correctly the gun will not

fire you have to lock it in it actually connects up and then it's ready to go you can't put the

gun incorrectly or the you know the back plate won't go on if you get a runaway gun all you got

to do is open up the feed tray cover and the rounds will drop out and it stops another feature

no parts to take off the barrel or to break it down so if you need to field strip it you don't

need to have any kind of tools to do that. So that's a big improvement as well. Same thing as

a Mark 19. You can charge it twice by putting one round to the outside, or you can put it directly

on the top of the bolt face and pull it back at it. Just one charge and now you're ready to go

It's got a hydraulic buffer. It reduces your recoil by like 30%. This is the LVS2. It actually

This actually was designed for the Mark 47. This has a laser range finder

It also has the different ammos that you can shoot in the gun So it already has the ballistic data Once you laser target you can add windage and stuff like that to kind of give it you know make you more accurate to send the first round down and put it on target

So that's really good. You have the day camera, but you can also go to thermal, right

So we can just rotate the thermal. So you laser the target. It's hard to see here, but when you laser the target, you're lasing it with this circle

As soon as you do that, it's going to allow this reticle to jump

And all you have to do now that you have your ballistic solution, you just move it over, put it on the target, and fire it

The other thing that this does, too, is it has a super elevation. So if I'm on a target and it's super elevated, I'm at, like, you know, let's just say 1,500 meters, and my barrel's like this, now I can't see the target

With this fire control system, I can hit the super elevation button and bring my reticle back down while still being on the target, right

It rotates the camera. So now I can see it, and now I can shoot it by just pushing the button and rotating it down to get it on target

The whole system was designed to be man portable, really truly man portable

Reducing soldier load is always important, right? Being more mobile, being able to move faster, it just makes you more lethal at the end of the day

And with this, with the fire control, you're getting first rounds on target a lot quicker, right

It's a lot more accurate during, you know, perfect conditions. You know, you could literally laser target and drop one round into like a, you know, 12 by 12 square, right

So as you reach distances, obviously it becomes a little bit more challenging

40 millimeter is not the most, you know, inherent accurate round. but having all these capabilities put into the system makes it really lethal on the battlefield

You can also shoot airburst capability in this gun as well. Yeah, so, well, it's counter-defilate, right, is what most people were using this for

So the Mark 47 is the only gun that has in-barreling airburst capability

So there are some other systems where it's times around outside, like RF, IR

are, but the Mark 47 is the only gun that can do it in barrel. Now, what's good about

in barreling is it, you know, it can't be jammed anyway by smoke, dust, sand, any of

that, because everything's timed inside. So if I was going to shoot airburst technology

and use an airburst round, the theory behind it is affecting troops and defilade, right

So troops and death laid so what I would do is I would laze the berm right and

Once I get to laze to the berm I can add two meters Right, so I'd laze the berm add two meters and just put it above the berm and so as it crosses the berm now it's

Comes over the top and explodes a better way to kind of understand it too is would be like in a building right So you taking kind of taking fires from building whatever you know something like that

If you need to do, you know, actual, you know, effect inside the building, you just lays the

base, you know, of the of the window and then add three meters. So you bring it up at three

meters and it'll drop in. You time it into it. Yeah. Well, this has all been extremely informative

and a whole lot of advancements off the Mark 19 I used to shoot when I was in the Marine Corps

20 odd years ago. I appreciate you taking time to explain all these features to us. Yeah, man

absolutely. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Yeah. Here at Modern Day Marine with Tom and Colt, we're going to talk about the Precision Grenadier

system. So Tom, I understand a lot of people talk about drones, they knock them out of the sky with

jamming, with different kinds of things, but this system does not just drones, other things as well

Talk some about how it takes care of drones and other threats. Correct. So Precision Grenadero

System, this is a partner with Northrop Grumman. We're a subcontractor to them. The system here is

designed with the optic weapon system and three types of ammunition. We have the training ammunition

the high explosive airburst ammunition, and the proximity ammunition all produced by Northrop Grumman

So the primary focus of the PGS system here is anti-defelade, so a soldier-carried weapon that can take out threats behind defelade

behind walls, behind berms, inside buildings. So not having a squad or team maneuver on, say, an enemy bunker or a known threat

the PGS gunner in that rifle squad can then engage that target, quickly eliminating that threat and allowing that squad, platoon, or company

to follow on to their primary mission. You show us a few of the features on the weapon

Of course. So, 5-round magazine, Ambed Extras Fire Controls, it's a semi-automatic system, about a 14

to 15 inch barrel, free float, ergonomic barrel here. Bus stock extends out

In total weight, you're looking under the 15 pound requirement for the US Army completely loaded

Right now, it'll have the different types of ammunition loaded in the 5-round magazine

The intent is for that ammunition to be able to talk to that optic and the optic to talk

that ammunition. So when employed, when that soldier is employing this weapon system in

battle, they can engage targets behind defilade, and in some cases with changing out of the

magazine or ammunition via a counter drone type solution. And the ability to do some short range counter drone as well, I guess you don't have to carry

another system. You can have something kind of in your pocket to do both. Correct. So the idea is that the operator, the soldier, will carry several different

types of magazines filled with high explosive air burst ammunition or proximity rounds and based on that threat and mission set they be able to react appropriately So I a bit of a gun guy so what caliber is this and what effects can I see come out of some of these different rounds coming out of the barrel So right now the caliber is agnostic to the Army

So the Army is looking at anywhere from 40-millimeter solution down to 20-millimeter solution

This solution right here with Northrop Grumman and Colt is 25-millimeter. So with that, our theory is Northrop Grumman is a mass producer of the 25-millimeter round

So the same factory lines, the same technology, the same workmanship that goes into manufacturing that caliber

is going to be more cost-effective to the end user. The weight is also a plus here, the 25mm versus a 40mm type solution

You carry more of it versus a 40mm type solution. More rounds downrange

More rounds downrange. And you mentioned a variety of different rounds. Can you tell us some of the effects that those types of rounds might have on the target

Right, so training round, standard training round for the soldier to train on

in a non-combat environment. You have the high-explosive air burst round, which is going to be your counter-defilate round, right

So that'll be the airburst-type ammunition to detonate overhead, defeating those threats that are behind a defilator or behind cover

The proximity round is where you get into the detonation of that high-explosive round

in proximity to a small UAS. And the Army is the main mover on this right now

Have you seen any interest from foreign companies or from special operations or the Marine Corps yet

We've seen some interest in the Marine Corps. They do have a counter-drone type shotgun capability looking at right now

We've seen interest from the U.S. Air Force, Army, SOCOM, and some of the Five Eyes partner nations

So that was some advanced weaponry, but now we're going to have to go back to the basics occasionally

And for that, let's go look at a folding machete. So what we have here is the Gerber Double Down Foldable Machete

what you're going to have with this is a 420 high carbon steel and a quad lock locking system

You've got two tabs, one on each side. You press those tabs in and the tool opens itself up

The locking bar here at the bottom, you've got the stability bar here on top, baton jumping

two-handed grip if needed, and it's made out of 420 high carbon steel, which means it's going to

hold its blade and then if it were to need to be resharpened, it's going to be easy to resharpen

in the field. Typically, I mean, anything, you know, you got that's, that needs blunt force

like small trees, shrubs, things like that. Cactus, it would go through pretty quick

just something that you would need, a very blunt, heavy steel, 420 high carbon to go through your

medium that you're trying to defeat. Once again, the quad lock locking system, you have your locking

bar at the bottom. You just simply pull that to unlock it. And then the quad lock here, you got

these two tabs and two on the backside. You squeeze those together and it comes out, but it locks here

so you don't run the risk of possibly cutting yourself there. And then you press those tabs back in and it closes back on itself

and just lock your locking bar down at the bottom and you're good to go