As I am too bloody stupid to find the old posts (circa 2006) regarding the then new Neopup 20 PAW, here is the upgrade/new version shown at AAD08. On the face of it quite a number of changes, how many cosmetic, I don't know.

Nice pics: I'm pleased to see that this interesting weapon is still around.

The article on my website is here: http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/PAW.htm

I see that the ammmo has changed as well - it now has a belted case.

The website for the gun and ammo is here (there's a dowloadable brochure): http://www.pmp.co.za/neopup_paw_ammo.htm

At a quick glance this seems a good weapon system especially for MOUT, being able to shoot through windows and wall holes pretty accurately. Also the weight is manageable and size seems compact enough to be really mobile. However I see a few problems:

1) The penetration potential for 300m/s 20mm ammo seems rather low. Given that "full-power" AT rifles of the same caliber were almost obsolete against 1941 tanks with 40-50mm armor I can not see how this gun can penetrate even basic BTR-type APCs reliably. How does it handle concrete or sandbagged cover regularly used in urban areas. Can a effective sub-caliber penetrator round be made for it? Is it possible to create a 20mm HEAT or HEP round? At least a HEAT can be made in 30mm but I´ve heard that its a bit expensive to manufacture.

2) Need for a secondary direct fire weapon, i.e. rifle / smg. Well, the muzzle velocity does offer some capability of direct fire against personell and when achieving a direct hit or near miss should be able to deal some serious damage. However the ammo loadout of perhaps 60-80 20mm rounds is rather less compared to several hundreds of small-caliber rifles. The problem lies in close quarters fighting, since effective area of the round affects the shooter(s) at close to point blanks ranges.

BTW has anybody fieldeld / considering fielding it?

It's an interesting weapon which is bound to cause a lot of confusion and questions, simply because there's nothing else like it, so no tactical precedents. I do hope that someone adopts it (although I've not heard that anyone's thinking about it) because it would be interesting to see how it's employed. As a stand-alone weapon it has some disadvantages, as you observe, but also some advantages, so it would be intriguing to see how the pros and cons pan out.

Heh. At first, I thought it was a 20ga shotgun. Actually reading works wonders. My first quibble is how to shoot from the left. The brochure says it can be fired from the left shoulder, using the right hand on the grip. It sounds somewhat awkward, but doable with training. Apparently left-handed firing was sacrificed for the sake of compactness. Other than that, it seems to beat the US Army's OICW grenade launcher.

@Tony; I agree. It's the the same problem as with XK-11, XM25.
The weapon is so large that it cannot really be a secondary weapon, maybe its effectiveness is good enough for specialists like one per platoon or as weapon that's usually left behind in APC/base and only carried with the squad if needed.




1)
A 20mm HEAT can be built (comparable to 120mm cargo mortar bomb DPICM submunitions and the XM29 HEAT shell) with at least 50mm RHAeq CE penetration.
I believe that such a calibre needs too many 20mm shells to be effective against hardened targets. A single rocket 60-90mm works fine against most hardened targets.

2)
Such an ammo loadout would be a lot (60+). A PDW like MP7 as 2nd weapon of the user is pretty self-evident. M4 or similar might be used as well, but that would be less 'pleasant'.



Btw, this weapon can shoot with subsonic MV with a very effective projectile (in comparison to other such slow projectiles). This offers some minimum signature short-range sniping and night combat options if a sound suppressor can be fitted.


compare:
http://world.guns.ru/grenade/gl29-e.htm
http://world.guns.ru/sniper/sn72-e.htm

Has the US military shown any interests in a PDW or compact carbine to arm soldiers who carry a weapon like the M32 or XM25?

Not sure, but I heard that the M4 replacement program '08 (that's about the 5th AR-15 replacement program ...) includes a requirement for a compact version (just like XM8 did).

Despite become very close to cancellation, the US Army seems to have showed renewed interest in the XM25 and it has been going under plenty of trials lately.

Now, do they plan to have this replace single shot 40mm grenade launchers if it does enter service? I believe this was originally the plan with the XM29 OICW until they determined that only one or two men in a squad would be armed with the XM29 (and now the XM25).

I suspect that some 40mm UGLs will remain in service alongside the XM25, as they can fire a very wide range of projectiles (parachute flares, video recce rounds, less-lethal ammo etc).

I still don't get the utility of the side mounted trigger grip...

It allows the barrel/bolt assembly to recoil in the stock while the trigger grip stays stationary. If the grip were underneath as usual, it would make for a much taller gun and an odd relationship between the grip and the butt.

That's where you grip and pull the trigger

Reduction of height.