The Army has picked Sig Sauer to construct and ship its Subsequent Technology Squad Weapon variants, in keeping with a launch issued late Tuesday.
The weapon takes 6.8 mm cartridges and can are available in each rifle and automated rifle variants.
Sig Sauer gained a 10-year contract with an preliminary supply order value $20.4 million. Their design has related configurations and ergonomics to current rifle platforms.
The corporate will now present each the person rifle, gentle machine gun and handgun, having gained the handgun contract in 2017. That makes it the supplier of the overwhelming majority of small arms to the shut fight forces and certain particular operations forces.
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The NGSW is the Army’s resolution to vary, accuracy and lethality issues in small arms for the shut fight power. It should exchange the M4 carbine within the infantry, scouts and fight engineer communities.
The M4 will proceed for use by common goal forces, basically all different troopers within the Army for the approaching a long time. Marines are additionally anticipated to obtain portions of the weapons for his or her shut fight forces.
The rifle variant is at present dubbed the XM5 and the automated rifle is known as the XM250. The “X” standing stays till fielded in most Army naming conventions.
The intermediate caliber 6.8 mm cartridge falls between the 5.56 mm, which is within the M4 and the M249 Squad Computerized Weapon, and the 7.62 mm spherical within the M240 machine gun.
The 6.8 mm spherical has higher lethality at distances past the efficient vary of the 5.56 mm and retains higher accuracy than the 7.62 mm.
The XM250 automated rifle will exchange the SAW in shut fight items.
The choice to pursue an intermediate caliber spherical got here out of the Small Arms Ammunition Configuration Research, which emerged from considerations about physique armor enhancements amongst Russian and doubtlessly Chinese language troops.
Over a 27-month prototyping and testing intervals, tons of of troopers, Marines and particular operations forces examined and evaluated the rifle and automated rifle prototypes.
“Each weapons present vital functionality enhancements in accuracy, vary and total lethality. They’re light-weight, hearth extra deadly ammunition, mitigate recoil, present improved barrel efficiency, and embrace built-in muzzle sound and flash discount,” reads the Army’s Tuesday information launch.
Each weapons will characteristic the XM157 Hearth Management optic, which is being made below a contract gained by Vortex Optics subsidiary Sheltered Wings in January. That contract will probably be value $2.7 billion over the following 10 years, in keeping with authorities paperwork.
“The NGSW-FC system is a ruggedized hearth management that will increase accuracy and lethality for the Shut Fight Power. It integrates plenty of superior applied sciences, together with a variable magnification optic, backup etched reticle, laser rangefinder, ballistic calculator, atmospheric sensor suite, compass, Intra-Soldier Wi-fi, seen and infrared aiming lasers, and a digital show overlay,” reads a January launch from the Army’s Cross Purposeful Workforce-Soldier Lethality.
Textron Programs and Lone Star Future Weapons each offered prototypes that made it to the late levels of the rifle competitors with Sig Sauer.
The Textron System featured a cased telescoped ammunition that lowered total cartridge size and used a polymer casing to cut back weight.
The Lone Star possibility featured a bullpup design the place the journal feed was mounted behind the grip, a characteristic widespread in some European-manufactured rifles.
In 2017, Sig Sauer additionally gained the contract to offer the M17 and M18 handguns for the Army, changing the Beretta M9 after three a long time of service.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, authorities and the army for a number of publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written venture on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq Conflict.
