Tag Archives: Barrett

Barrett Wins Army 30mm Precision Grenadier System Competition

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Tennessee-based Barrett teamed up with Mars, Inc., and brought a radical new 30mm grenade launcher over the finish line in an Army competition.

It is planned that the new gun will eventually be fielded as part of the Army’s Precision Grenadier System program. The PGS requirement is for a soldier-portable, shoulder-fired, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, integrated system that can engage targets in defilade– such as behind a hill– as well as aerial drones at close range via programmable ammunition. Ultimately, this allows the user faster fire than a 40mm, and with more power and round capabilities than the 25mm.

First launched in 2023 as part of a xTechSoldier Lethality contest designed to rapidly fill the requirement, the PGS competition soon boiled down to two platforms: FN’s PGS-001 and the Barrett-Mars 30mm Support Rifle System, and, with the SRS announced last week as the winner.

Barrett and Mars Inc. recently put their xTech Precision Grenadier System prototype to the test in a live fire event. (Photo: Barrett) 
The Barrett-Mars 30mm Support Rifle System was recently picked for the Army’s PGS program. It uses the Vortex-made XM157 fire control system, which is also used by the Army’s planned 6.5mm Next Generation Squad Weapons, the M7 rifle, and the M250 machine gun. (Photo: Barrett) 
The ammo used by the PGS will include Programmable Air Bursting High Explosive (HE), Proximity Fuzed, and Point Detonating HE, as well as a Close Quarter Battle Round. (Photo: Guns.com)
The SRS is intended to be portable and used by a single soldier. (Photo: U.S. Army xTech Program)

We visited with Barrett and Mars at SHOT earlier this year and got the scoop on the big honking 30mm bloop gun.

Mars even had one set up at their booth in the basement that was mocked up as a Heavy Bolter from Warhammer.

MII Board clears HITRON shoot

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Petty Officer 2nd Class Anthony Phillips, a precision marksman at Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, shows a group of VIPs the weaponry used at HITRON during missions Tuesday Feb. 23, 2010. The VIPs were at HITRON to view an advanced screening of an upcoming episode of Top Sniper featuring HITRON on the Military Channel Thursday at 9 p.m. EST. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Bobby Nash.)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Petty Officer 2nd Class Anthony Phillips, a precision marksman at Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, shows a group of VIPs the weaponry used at HITRON during missions Tuesday Feb. 23, 2010. The VIPs were at HITRON to view an advanced screening of an upcoming episode of Top Sniper featuring HITRON on the Military Channel Thursday at 9 p.m. EST. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Bobby Nash.)

The U.S. Coast Guard last week announced the fatal shooting of an Ecuadorian man was in accordance with U.S. and international law and fully complied with the agency’s tactics and procedures.

Javier Darwin Licoa Nunez, 35, of Ecuador, was killed during a law enforcement operation 195 miles north of the Galapagos Islands Aug. 30, 2016. The USCG’s Major Incident Investigation Report made public this week found that Nunez, part of the crew of a suspected “go-fast” cocaine smuggling boat, died from fatal internal injuries caused by bullet fragments after a helicopter-borne Coast Guard marksman fired 10 rounds into the engines of the vessel while attempting to stop the craft.

More in my column at Guns.com.