ARTICLE

February 2004

Lightweight Shotgun Deploys to Afghanistan

by Harold Kennedy

The Army’s new Lightweight Shotgun System is getting a “trial by fire” in Afghanistan, said Col. Michael J. Smith, program manager for soldier weapons at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.

The LSS—being developed by C-More Systems Inc., of Manassas, Va.—is a bolt-action, 12-gauge shotgun that attaches underneath the barrel of an individual infantry weapon, such as the M4 carbine or the experimental XM8.

A shotgun is useful in urban warfare for close combat, door breaching and firing non-lethal munitions, Smith explained. The LSS frees soldiers who need a shotgun from having to carry a second weapon. It also can be detached and used as a stand-alone shotgun.

A total of 199 of the weapons were fielded in October to the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan. The division requested them as “an urgent operational need,” Smith said.

The shotgun fires 2.75 and 3 inch lethal, non-lethal and door-breaching rounds. It has a detachable, five-round magazine, and incorporates a standoff device to fire door-breaching rounds.

The attachment is 16.5 inches in length and weighs 2 pounds, 11 ounces—less than the M203 grenade launcher. The stand-alone weapon is 24 inches long collapsed; weighs 4 pounds, 3 ounces, and has a pistol grip and a butt stock.

Plans call for each squad to get at least one shotgun, Smith said. Eventually, every fire team could get one.

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