The Army’s SAW and M4 replacement is headed to troops by 2022

[Bum]

The gun that will replace both the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and the M16/M4 rifle/carbine weapons — and add a new, widely distributed caliber to the U.S. military inventory for the first time in decades — is less than two years away.
The Next Generation Squad Weapon finished its first prototype test event in September. The three previously selected offerings came from Sig Sauer, Textron Systems and General Dynamics Ordnance.

The Army’s SAW and M4 replacement is headed to troops by 2022

The new weapons will bring the 6.8mm projectile into the U.S. military inventory for the first time.

www.defensenews.com

The new rifles are designed to use the 6.8 mm round.

 

[Fledermaus]

The gun that will replace both the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and the M16/M4 rifle/carbine weapons — and add a new, widely distributed caliber to the U.S. military inventory for the first time in decades — is less than two years away.
The Next Generation Squad Weapon finished its first prototype test event in September. The three previously selected offerings came from Sig Sauer, Textron Systems and General Dynamics Ordnance.

The Army’s SAW and M4 replacement is headed to troops by 2022

The new weapons will bring the 6.8mm projectile into the U.S. military inventory for the first time.

www.defensenews.com

The new rifles are designed to use the 6.8 mm round.

Good news for all the owners of AR clones...

 

[gino]

Don't believe it. The Army has been trying to replace the M16 family of rifles for many years and it is still with us. While a good case can be made that the 223 just doesn't have the punch to do the job efficiently, and the M16 family is not too good at running dirty, it is "good enough" and has managed to hang on for a lot of years...

 

[dex4974]

Will new recruits be trained with these or will they still go to basic and qualify with an M16?

 

[vegas giants]

Don't believe it. The Army has been trying to replace the M16 family of rifles for many years and it is still with us. While a good case can be made that the 223 just doesn't have the punch to do the job efficiently, and the M16 family is not too good at running dirty, it is "good enough" and has managed to hang on for a lot of years...

They will replace it because the military industrial complex is losing money with the wars over so they will need this to increase corporate profits

 

[Casper]

The gun that will replace both the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and the M16/M4 rifle/carbine weapons — and add a new, widely distributed caliber to the U.S. military inventory for the first time in decades — is less than two years away.
The Next Generation Squad Weapon finished its first prototype test event in September. The three previously selected offerings came from Sig Sauer, Textron Systems and General Dynamics Ordnance.

The Army’s SAW and M4 replacement is headed to troops by 2022

The new weapons will bring the 6.8mm projectile into the U.S. military inventory for the first time.

www.defensenews.com

The new rifles are designed to use the 6.8 mm round.

Like the 6.8 verses the .223, but as for the designs I would say stick to the M4 type, the accessories are already in place so the Sig would work best plus training the troops would be very minimal. Hate Bullpup designs they are not as adjustable to the shooter, I shoot rifles as a Leftie and unless the ejection can be switched to left side it is useless to me, plus the accessories are not in place and retraining would be far to much. The third version looks less adjustable and it looks to be less compatible with current accessories. Stick with the current Platform and simply up the Caliber. One final observation, while I have a high opinion of Sig products, they are not an American company, so that may become a factor.

 

[swing_voter]

The only problem with the M16A2 that I can think of, is that it doesn't penetrate brush very well. You hit a twig and it throws the bullet off course. .308s and other heavy rounds don't have this problem. It's more affected by the wind too.

But ask me if I'd rather carry heavier bullets and I'd say no.

 

[Questerr]

The gun that will replace both the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and the M16/M4 rifle/carbine weapons — and add a new, widely distributed caliber to the U.S. military inventory for the first time in decades — is less than two years away.
The Next Generation Squad Weapon finished its first prototype test event in September. The three previously selected offerings came from Sig Sauer, Textron Systems and General Dynamics Ordnance.

The Army’s SAW and M4 replacement is headed to troops by 2022

The new weapons will bring the 6.8mm projectile into the U.S. military inventory for the first time.

www.defensenews.com

The new rifles are designed to use the 6.8 mm round.

*A* 6.8mm round. It's worth noting it's not the 6.8mm SPC round that's been battling it out with 6.5mm for the last decade or so. The Army created their own 6.8mm round.

I'm tentatively excited to see how this goes. It seems like the Army has finally gotten its head out of its ass on this, as well as the Bradley replacement program.

 

[Questerr]

Like the 6.8 verses the .223, but as for the designs I would say stick to the M4 type, the accessories are already in place so the Sig would work best plus training the troops would be very minimal. Hate Bullpup designs they are not as adjustable to the shooter, I shoot rifles as a Leftie and unless the ejection can be switched to left side it is useless to me, plus the accessories are not in place and retraining would be far to much. The third version looks less adjustable and it looks to be less compatible with current accessories. Stick with the current Platform and simply up the Caliber. One final observation, while I have a high opinion of Sig products, they are not an American company, so that may become a factor.

The new rifle and SAW designs will have standard Picatinny rails, so any accessories that work on the M4 will work on them.

 

[Questerr]

Will new recruits be trained with these or will they still go to basic and qualify with an M16?

I'd imagine Infantry Basic at Benning will get them first, alongside various Infantry and SOF units, then they'll filter out to the rest of the Army over the next couple decades. Quicker if the Army really wants to kill the logistics issues fast.

 

[Questerr]

To weigh in my 2 cents, much as I like bullpups, I think the SiG design is the best fit. Ergonomically, it's closest to the M4, and familiarity has a lot of value.

 

[Jredbaron96]

I still had an M16 when I got to my current unit, and I guarantee that I won't be in long enough to see this new rifle.

 

[Casper]

The new rifle and SAW designs will have standard Picatinny rails, so any accessories that work on the M4 will work on them.

Not all three are the same setup.

 

[Questerr]

Not all three are the same setup.

Sure, but they all have optical and forestock rails. Any optic, laser, foregrip, grenade launcher, etc the M4 could hold, so can they. They may have different positioning, but they can hold them. I'd bet, by the time they move from prototype to production models, the forestocks on every design will have 4 directional full length rails just like the M4.

 

[beerftw]

The gun that will replace both the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and the M16/M4 rifle/carbine weapons — and add a new, widely distributed caliber to the U.S. military inventory for the first time in decades — is less than two years away.
The Next Generation Squad Weapon finished its first prototype test event in September. The three previously selected offerings came from Sig Sauer, Textron Systems and General Dynamics Ordnance.

The Army’s SAW and M4 replacement is headed to troops by 2022

The new weapons will bring the 6.8mm projectile into the U.S. military inventory for the first time.

www.defensenews.com

The new rifles are designed to use the 6.8 mm round.

What gets me is the listed prototypes are similar to existing assault rifles, the saw is the squad automatic weapon, similar to the 240b and the m60. The idea behind such weapons was not to be super light weapons with low capacity, they were crew serve weapons. Crew serve weapons can be operated by one person, but often intended to be operated by a crew.

The 249,240b, and m60 mostly shine for suppressive fire and anti equipment purposes. I sure hope these replacements have the ability to handle ammo belts, otherwise these would not be much different than full auto assault rifles of the vietnam era which the army dropped, but the army never dropped the crew serve automatic rifles.

 

[Questerr]

What gets me is the listed prototypes are similar to existing assault rifles, the saw is the squad automatic weapon, similar to the 240b and the m60. The idea behind such weapons was not to be super light weapons with low capacity, they were crew serve weapons. Crew serve weapons can be operated by one person, but often intended to be operated by a crew.

The 249,240b, and m60 mostly shine for suppressive fire and anti equipment purposes. I sure hope these replacements have the ability to handle ammo belts, otherwise these would not be much different than full auto assault rifles of the vietnam era which the army dropped, but the army never dropped the crew serve automatic rifles.

All of the SAW replacement designs are belt-fed.

 

[beerftw]

All of the SAW replacement designs are belt-fed.

I would hope so, the defense article was fairly vague,and kept saying the weapon system to replace both, not very clear on if crew serve and infantry rifles were going to be the same platform or seperate platforms sharing the same caliber.

What comes to mind for me is the marines m27 intended to replace the saw and m-4, and is magazine fed. A former marine corps commander considered it inferior, as it was more accurate than the m-249, but lacked the firepower for sustained suppressive fire needed by infantry. The army directly rejected the m27 for the same reason, magazine fed and lack of sustained firepower.

It really comes down to a simple point, belt fed ammo takes up much less space and weight per round than magazine fed does, but is not as quick to switch or as convenient to carry as magazines, hence why it has been common place to use magazines for infantry rifles and belts for crew serve machine guns. The marines already tried to ignore proven results with the m27, I just hope the army did not change it's mind and follow the marines with the one rifle does everything idea.