Infantry: June 15, 2000

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The Army's new Multipurpose Individual Munition (Short Range) is designed to destroy bunkers, light armored vehicles, and even penetrate triple-layer brick walls. The problem is that it is too heavy. Army Materiel Command says the missile weighs 24.5 pounds and that this cannot be reduced due to the multi-function warhead and the flight module (which Congress ordered the Army to make common with the Marine Corps' Predator shoulder-fired munition). Training and Doctrine command says that the weapon will not be accepted if it weighs over 20 pounds because the Infantry is already overloaded.--Stephen V Cole