‘Sweating’ to Next-Gen Soldier Lethality

[Elderberry]

National Defense By Scott R. Gourley 10/7/2021

The U.S. Army is preparing to introduce a new arsenal of small arms capabilities to its “close combat force” — the approximately 103,000 soldiers identified as those most directly responsible for closing with and destroying the enemy.

A cornerstone of these new capabilities can be found in the service’s Next-Generation Squad Weapons program emerging from Army Futures Command’s soldier lethality cross-functional team. Focused on enhancing squad-level lethality for the close combat force, the initiative is a prototyping effort that consists of a rifle (NGSW-R) and automatic rifle (NGSW-AR) with a common 6.8mm cartridge and fire control (NGSW-FC) between the two systems. The goal is to field the NGSW-R to selected units as the planned replacement for the current M4A1 and the NGSW-AR as the planned replacement for the current M249 Squad Automatic Weapon.-----

In addition to clarifying the critical relationship, the study process also paved the way for initial exploration of new weapon elements within the SWEAT equation.

That exploration featured a prototyping effort led by the office of the program manager for crew served weapons, under the project manager for soldier weapons at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. That effort, which included six prototype weapon designs from five different vendors, ended in mid-2019 and provided actual hardware to further inform the Army requirement. As such, it provided a foundation for the evolution of today’s NGSW program, which currently includes competitive prototyping by three weapons and ammo vendors: SIG Sauer, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, and Textron Systems.

Defense Department program descriptions note that initial NGSW prototype testing, beginning in the third quarter of fiscal year 2020, served as a “diagnostic test” to inform the vendors on their performance and feed a follow-on design iteration.-----

A follow-on second prototype test phase of the NGSW-R and NGSW-AR began in the second quarter of fiscal year 2021 and is currently informing source selection teams on the performance of the systems.

NGSW source selection to a single vendor is anticipated in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, with an extremely rapid first unit equipped goal for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.

More: https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2021/10/7/sweating-to-next-gen-soldier-lethality

[sneakypete]

I like the sound of the 6.8mm round.

Not sure how much the soldierettes are going to like it,though.

[Elderberry]

I like the sound of the 6.8mm round.

Not sure how much the soldierettes are going to like it,though.

I just can't understand why they picked 6.8mm over 6.5mm.  It may be that I am biased though as I have two 6.5s. My first was my Rem 700SA I rebarreled in 6.5x47 Lapua. My second was my first AR-15 I built in 6.5 Grendel.

[sneakypete]

I just can't understand why they picked 6.8mm over 6.5mm.  It may be that I am biased though as I have two 6.5s. My first was my Rem 700SA I rebarreled in 6.5x47 Lapua. My second was my first AR-15 I built in 6.5 Grendel.

@Elderberry

For the last couple of decades,most of the shooting has been across mountain tops or in valleys,where wind can be a problem. The 6.8 bullets are heavier,although I WOULD like to see some mention of case capacity and powder choices.

Generally speaking,heavier bullets are ALWAYS preferred over lighter bullets for combat because of superior wind resistance and because they tend to penetrate better,especially at long ranges.

And,of course they CAN'T go back to the .308/7.62mm because doing so would be admitting they were wrong earlier.