According to the US Army, the NGSW program is currently in a competitive
prototyping iteration with three vendors for weapons and ammunition
including sigsar, general dynamics and textron systems as well as two
vendors for fire control Vortex Optics and L3Harris.
The competitive prototyping has included prototype testing which was meant
to serve as a diagnostic test to inform the weapon and ammunition vendors on
their current performance.
The next generation squad weapon which will arm infantry and other ground
troops will incorporate new technologies never brought to the field of small
arms before, including target tracking, facial recognition and hydrophobic
coatings for lenses.
Following is a rundown on the latest development for everything that is NGSW
from an onboard computer, a new caliber of bullet to the top entries to land
this big us military contract.
New optic system chosen for army's next generation squad weapon. The US Army
is getting two new weapons to replace the M4 carbine and the M249 squad
automatic weapon, but first the optics had to be picked.
Known as a fire control system, the award goes to Vortex Optics for up to
2.7 billion dollars over 10 years. Vortex Optics is to deliver 250.000 XM
157 fire control systems to the army for the Next Generation Squad Weapon
Program (NGSW), the branch announced on january 7th. Vortex Optic subsidiary
sheltered wings won the deal over L3Harris technologies.
The NGSW program significantly increases the lethality and probability of a
hit on target at the squad level. Due to the nature of the general purpose
ammunition, the 6.8 millimeters projectile outperforms the modern 5.56
millimeters and 7.62 millimeters ammunition. These new weapon systems will
give soldiers significant capability improvements in accuracy, range,
signature management and lethality over the M4.
The M4A1 is an updated refined version of the M16 first adopted by the army
in 1965, while the M249 was first brought into service in the late 1980s.
The us army is looking to buy somewhere in the range of 100.000 of the very
capable. Lethal rifles under the next generation squad weapons NGSW program
and 6.8 millimeter ammunition.
According to the us army contracting command officials, the new weapons will
include the Next Generation Squad Weapon Rifle (NGSWR) and the Next
Generation Squad Weapon Automatic Rifle (NGSWAR).
The NGSWR is the planned replacement for the M4, M4A1 carbine and the NGSWAR
is the planned replacement for the M249 squad automatic weapon in the
automatic rifleman role in the close combat force.
It is expected that new generation of army's rifles will be fire at speeds
that far exceed the velocity of bullets today and it will penetrate any
existing body armor or body armor expected to exist over the next 25 years.
Next generation squad weapons will also incorporate key changes into the
weapons themselves. The guns will use a new 6.8 millimeter round more
capable of punching through body armor at longer ranges.
To offset the heavier round, the army also wants the new round to weigh 20
less than conventional brass casing rounds which will probably necessitate
new technology such as polymer casings, caseless rounds or case telescope
bullets.
The NGSW weapons will seamlessly incorporate ballistic computers while
rugged and capable of surviving the rigors of combat. they must incorporate
sensors such as wind readers, shot counters and laser rangefinders. They
must do all this while remaining relatively lightweight. The M4 Carbine
weighs only seven pounds and add-ons can alter the balance and feel of the
weapon in addition to making them unwieldy on long marches and patrols.
If the army can produce a reliable lightweight system it could greatly
increase infantry weapon accuracy, especially for the NGSW automatic rifle.
automatic rifles are designed to provide suppressive fire against enemy
targets to allow friendly forces the ability to maneuver. A computer-aided
automatic rifle could engage enemies more quickly at longer ranges and with
fewer shots.
All of this could make the US army of the 2020s dramatically more lethal
than the army of just 10 years before development of the NGSW is an
outgrowth of the army's 2017 small arms ammunition configuration study,
which showed the need for a new weapon.
