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XM307 Airbursting Weapon System
Advanced Crew Served Weapon

To meet upcoming challenges while addressing budget constraints, in January 2007 the Army directed adjustments to the current Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. These adjustments during the ‘08-13 POM included halting work on the XM-307 Advanced Crew Served Weapon. The FY2009 budget request included no funding for the XM307. The XM-307 advanced crew served weapon requirement was approved as part of the Future Combat Systems (FCS) Operational Requirements Document, dated April 4, 2003. The FCS lethality integrated product team has recommended the XM-307 as either the primary or secondary armament solution for nine of the manned and unmanned ground vehicles of FCS.

The XM307, in development with General Dynamics, is a lightweight, two-man portable machine gun that fires precision airbursting munitions. It is equipped with a target acquisition fire control sight and is the first automatic weapon to fire a 25mm thermobaric round at the intended range of 450 meters. Compared to the MK19 40mm grenade launcher that fires its rounds in a high arc, the XM307 fires on a flatter trajectory, boosting their velocity and letting Soldiers put three rounds on a target at 1,200 meters in the same time it takes the MK19 to send just one.

The weapon has dual hand grips which allow the gun to be raised or lowered and moved laterally with a touch of a button. This means the gunner never has to take his hands off of the weapon. It uses a Direct View Optics similar to the OICW.

The biggest advantage over the MK-19 is the weight. A MK-19 weighs about 140 pounds. The OCSW weighs 50 pounds with the tripod. Its light-weight could increase the number of mission roles the OCSW could handle over the MK-19. A two man team could easily carry it into combat and it takes about a minute to set up.

The M307 system can be quickly and easily converted to a 12.7mm / .50-caliber machine gun. The XM312 can be converted from a .50-caliber machine gun to the M307 firing 25mm airburst ammunition in two minutes by changing four parts. Being able to convert the 312 to 307 while in field will give the front-line Soldier flexibility in choosing weapons to meet the mission.

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (GDATP) is developing the XM307, a lightweight, portable grenade machine gun that utilizes 25mm airbursting ammunition. This next-generation replacement for current heavy and grenade machine guns efficiently manages recoil and is highly portable in small soldier units. GDATP is the prime contractor with total system integration.

The XM307 has a full-solution fire control system that includes a laser range finder and a day/night sight. The weapon delivers highly lethal and suppressive fire out to 2,000 meters against personnel and lightly armored vehicles. Highly portable within small soldier units, the XM307 provides overwhelming lethality compared to existing systems. The XM307 provides devastating firepower against visible and hidden targets, such as those in foxholes, behind rocks and walls, and inside buildings with windows.

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems is developing the airburst 25mm ammunition. Kaman Dayron, Inc. is developing the fuze and Raytheon is developing the full-solution fire control. The XM307 program is being managed by the Joint Services Small Arms Program Office. The program transitioned to management by the PM of Crew Served Weapons in 4QY03.

Advanced Crew Served Weapon

In fiscal year 2003, the Advanced Crew Served Weapon [ACSW] program successfully transitioned from the Objective Crew Served Weapon advanced technology demonstrator, the predecessor program on which the ACSW is based. ACSW’s key capabilities include the successful technology demonstration of the 25mm air bursting munitions, warheads, recoil management, and fire control required to increase the lethality of the XM307 over the systems it is targeted to replace (the M2 .50 caliber machine gun and the MK19 40mm grenade machine gun).

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products is the lead developer and systems integrator for the XM307 25mm ACSW system. Design and development of the weapon will occur at General Dynamics’ Burlington, Vt., facility. General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems of St. Petersburg, Fla., is developing the family of 25mm ammunition. Raytheon has responsibility for the design and development of the full-solution fire control. On February 16, 2004 General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, a business unit of General Dynamics, received two increments totaling $7.1 million as part of a $63.8 million sole-source contract for the continued development of the XM307 Advanced Crew-Served Weapon (ACSW) system. This award, from the U.S. Army’s Product Manager Crew-Served Weapons and Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command – Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, extended the scope of work through December 2004 and funds the continued maturation of the weapon, additional ammunition testing, and fire control improvements under the Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) contract.

Early in 2004, the Advanced Crew Served Weapon team completed the award of a $94 million development contract using an alpha contracting approach in a total time of only 16 weeks from approval of the justification and authority (J&A) document on Jan. 8, 2004, by Claude Bolton, Army acquisition executive, to contract award on April 30, 2004. Meeting this aggressive schedule was a significant accomplishment for the ACSW team.

On 10 May 2004 General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), received a cost-plus-award-fee contract with a total potential value of $94.8 million from the US Army Tank-Automotive and Armament Command for system development and demonstration of the XM307 Advanced Crew Served Weapon system. The award funded development work through December 2007.

The ACSW system, slated to serve as the common close support weapon system for the unit of action (U of A), entered the system development and demonstration (SDD) acquisition phase as part of the U of A in December 2003. The XM307 25mm ACSW is a core complementary system to the U of A, intended to support U of A vehicle-mounted applications on both manned and unmanned platforms as a remotely fired weapon system. Other planned potential applications for the ACSW include ground-mounted and pintle-mounted applications.

The ACSW team identified several lessons learned. Two stand out as most important. First was the crucial nature of planning—not simply planning as an overview of what milestones and events need to happen, but planning to discuss and address every aspect of how, when, and where alpha contracting negotiations take place. Second was the absolute necessity for teamwork. There as a common enemy — the calendar — and a primary team goal — to build a great system at a fair price to meet or exceed customer expectations, while ensuring that the contractors made a fair profit.

Perhaps the toughest call for the program management team came near the end of the SOW generation process. The entire program had been generated and was considered by the full IPT to be the best technical effort required to conduct the critical components properly and meet the U of A deliverables. The program was within the overall budget allocation for the entire program, but it wasn’t within the yearly budget allocation. Further reduction in scope or delay of development would result in a broken program. The program management team decided that the yearly deltas would be manageable within PEO Soldier. This last decision was the key to proceeding with an affordable program that met all the critical technical objectives.

This very complex proposal covered four years of effort at a cost of $94.0 million. A four-part award fee plan was implemented consisting of program management, technical performance, deliverables, and cost saving criteria. The program management component, an evaluation of earned value and risk management, is weighted more heavily toward the beginning of the system design and development (SDD) phase. The technical performance award fee is concentrated on the performance data submitted for the critical design review and the results of the government-conducted development testing (DT) and limited user testing (LUT). Deliverables are heavily weighted toward the end of SDD when the contractor delivers the DT/LUT hardware. Award fee is also earned through the contractor’s efforts on cost saving: the contractor can earn a percentage of contract costs saved over the course of the contract as profit by finding more efficient ways to conduct the proposed contracted efforts.

When the XM307 Program began the system development and demonstration phase, the XM307 did not have a Joint Requirements Oversight Council-approved operational requirements document or a capability development document. After the award of contract W15QKN-04-C- 1093, the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) withdrew approximately $117 million in research, development, test, and evaluation funding for the XM307 Program. The Assistant Secretary withdrew the funds because the XM307 Program did not have a valid requirements document, according to a representative from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology). To compensate for the funding shortfall, the FCS Program Office decided to fund the XM307 Program based on the Common Close Support Weapon requirement in the April 14, 2003, version of the FCS operational requirements document.

The July 11, 2006, version of the operational requirements document for the FCS contained essentially the same wording for the Common Close Support Weapon requirement. As written, the operational requirements document for the FCS did not provide detailed requirements to develop the XM307.

The House of Representatives Conference Report 109-676, “Making Appropriations for the Department of Defense for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2007, and for Other Purposes,” September 25, 2006, appropriated funds for the XM307 Program. The Conference Report appropriated $3.25 million in FY 2007 research, development, test, and evaluation funds for the XM307 25-millimeter, Advanced Crew Served Weapon System.

As of May 2007, the XM307 Program Office had spent about $400,000 in FY 2007 research, development, test, and evaluation congressional plus-up funds on the dismounted version of the XM307 (XM307G). The Program Executive Officer Soldier rescinded the acquisition decision memorandum that allowed the XM307G Program to enter the system development and demonstration phase. Further, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) withdrew $2.697 million in FY 2007 research, development, test, and evaluation congressional plus-up funds.

The XM307 Program Office began developing the XM307 in the system development and demonstration phase of the acquisition process before the Joint Requirements Oversight Council approved the warfighter requirements for the XM307. As a result, the Future Combat Systems (FCS) and the XM307 Program Offices prematurely spent about $98.1 million in research, development, test, and evaluation funds on developing the XM307 Program. In this regard, the FCS Program Manager planned to spend an additional $93.3 million in those funds for the program without assurance that the XM307 will satisfy warfighter requirements.

In 2007 the Army initiated plans to withdraw $80.1 million of the $93.3 million from the program and to use the remaining $13.2 million to close out the contract.