Futuristic Grenade Launcher From Colt And Northrop Grumman Seen Being Fired For First Time

Northrop Grumman released a brief video clip showing an individual shooting a new 25mm precision grenade launcher it has been working on with gunmaker Colt. This appears to be the first time we’ve seen a working prototype of the weapon being fired. It is one of several designs being pitched to meet U.S. Army requirements for a highly computerized Precision Grenadier System (PGS) that soldiers could use to engage ground targets, including ones behind cover, as well as help shield themselves from the growing threats posed by drones.

The footage of the grenade launcher being tested was included in a video montage, seen in the social media post below, that Northrop Grumman put out earlier this week to highlight “the latest in Bushmaster Chain Gun technology, advanced ammunition and counter-uas [uncrewed aerial systems] solutions.”

Inspired by innovation, perfected with precision.

Together with our teammates, we recently demonstrated the latest in Bushmaster® Chain Gun® technology, advanced ammunition and counter-uas solutions.

These live-fire scenarios highlighted the depth of our innovations – reliable,… pic.twitter.com/UURCzuvHF7

— Northrop Grumman (@northropgrumman) May 13, 2025

In general, the new grenade launcher has the look of an oversized rifle. It is semi-automatic and feeds from a five-round box magazine. The barrel is between 14 and 15 inches long, and the overall weight is under 15 pounds, Colt previously told Defense News.

In the recently released video clip from Northrop Grumman, the gun is seen fitted with a Vortex Optics XM157 computerized optic, which the U.S. Army is already acquiring to go along with its new 6.8x51mm XM7 rifles and XM250 light machine guns.

In April, at the Modern Day Marine exposition in Washington, D.C., Northrop Grumman representatives told TWZ‘s Howard Altman that the company has been focused primarily on developing a family of specialized ammunition to go along with the launcher. Colt has been leading the development of the weapon itself, a mockup of which was shown at the event.

“We’re responsible for integration. We went to Colt to help design this [the grenade launcher],” Michael O’Hara, Senior Manager for Tactical Weapons Solutions & Strategy at Northrop Grumman, explained. “These specialized rounds is [sic; are] all Northrop Grumman, and then we’re working with different types of smart optics.”

The mockup of the grenade launcher at Modern Day Marine was equipped with a SMASH-series computerized optic from Israeli firm Smartshooter. SMASH-series optics have been steadily gaining traction across the U.S. military and elsewhere globally in recent years, with a particular eye toward improving the ability of individual shooters to engage small drones. O’Hara also specifically mentioned Vortex Optics as another source of “smart optics.”

“The program is focused primarily, currently, at surface-to-surface [targets]. So we’re able to take out targets down-range that are hidden behind objects. That’s the whole purpose of the weapon system,” O’Hara added. “We are also taking that functionality and taking the prox[imity] capability of the ammo and going to go against UAS. So, for like squad-level/platoon-level protection, a rifleman would be able to utilize this [to] engage UAS, small UASs, for protection.”

The U.S. Army has said its plan for the future Precision Grenadier System (PGS) envisions “a Soldier portable, shoulder fired, semi-automatic, magazine fed, integrated armament system (weapon, ammunition, fire control) that enables rapid, precision engagements to destroy personnel targets in defilade and in the open with increased lethality and precision compared to legacy grenade launchers, while also not impacting Soldier mobility,” according to a contracting notice the service put out in February. “The PGS is anticipated to be deployed as a Soldier’s primary weapon system, providing organic, close-quarters combat, counter-defilade, and counter-UAS capabilities through a family of ammunition to ranges in concert with the rest of the squad’s battlespace, and requiring minimal resupplies to support. This capability shall provide overmatch to comparable threat grenade launchers in near-peer formations in future operating environments to include urban, jungle, woodland, subterranean, and desert, in day, night, or obscured conditions.”

Previous PGS contracting notices have also called for a weapon with an overall length of no more than 34 inches, a weight of 14.5 pounds or less, and an effective range of at least 1,640 feet (500 meters). The PGS also needs to be able to fire rounds along a relatively flat trajectory, with the goal of making it easier to engage targets accurately. The desired maximum range for the PGS is notably greater than that offered by the M203 and M320 grenade launchers currently in Army service, which also fire 40x46mm rounds along a more arced trajectory. Unlike the PGS, the M230 and M320 are both designed to be attached under the barrels of existing standard infantry rifles, though the Army also fields the latter in a stand-alone configuration.

The Army wants a family of specialized ammunition to go along with the PGS that includes a so-called “Counter Defilade Round” that can “precisely and quickly defeat personnel targets” behind cover, which would be an air-bursting design. As Northrop Grumman’s O’Hara noted, with the help of a proximity fuze, rounds designed for counter-defilade use could also be employed against drones. Armor-piercing, shotgun-like “close quarters battle” anti-personnel canister, and training rounds are expected to go along with the PGS, as well.

It is important to remember that the Army’s current PGS effort follows the cancellation of work on a similarly advanced 25mm grenade launcher, designated the XM25 and nicknamed “The Punisher,” back in 2018. Work on the XM25 began in the mid-2000s as an outgrowth of an abortive next-generation infantry weapons program called the Objective Infantry Combat Weapon (OICW) that started in the 1990s. Given the stated PGS weight requirement, it is interesting to note that the XM25’s 14-pound weight was cited as contributing to its ultimate cancellation. The cost of the grenade launcher and its advanced programmable ammunition, as well as its physical bulk, were also factors.

At least two other grenade launchers are being pitched to the Army now for PGS. These are the Squad Support Rifle System (SSRS) from Barrett Firearms and MARS, Inc., and FN America’s PGS-001. The SSRS and the PGS-001 could have an additional leg up thanks to being the two finalists in the Army’s xTechSoldier Lethality challenge that wrapped up in 2023. You can read more about what is known about those designs here.

What the Army’s timeline is now for settling on a PGS design and fielding remains unclear. The aforementioned contracting notice put in February was tied to PGS, but was specifically about a Prototype Project Opportunity described as “a risk reduction effort separate from the Precision Grenadier Program of Record with the goal of developing technologies associated with the current capability gap.”

The Army clearly still has an active interest in the capabilities that PGS could offer, now further spurred on by the ever-growing threats that drones present. Though the danger posed by drones is not new, it has been very pointedly observed in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, as well as other hotspots around the world in recent years.

The recently released video shows that Northrop Grumman and Colt are continuing in their development of one grenade launcher design that could meet the Army’s PGS needs.

Howard Altman contributed to this story.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com