US Army to Concentrate on Next Generation Rifle

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

The US Army has canceled its program to find an interim replacement for the M4/M16 rifle for front line soldiers as result of “a change in strategy”. The Army’s Interim Combat Service Rifle program’s funds have been reallocated to its longer-term goal to create the Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW).

“The NGSW will be a long-term solution to meet the identified capability gap instead of the ICSR, which was an interim solution,” according to the Federal Business Opportunities fbo.gov site.

The program, launched in August, originally sought up to 50,000 commercially available, 7.62 mm rifles to bridge the reported small arms overmatch and new 5.56 mm-resistant body armor being fielded by adversaries, according to armytimes.com.

The rifles were not intended to replace the entire rifle inventory but instead would have been fielded to front line, rapid response soldiers most likely to face combat in the near term.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and developers at the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence have called the Next Generation Squad Weapon an “evolution” in small arms that will apply new fire control systems, design changes, and likely a new caliber of ammunition in an intermediate range between 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm.

According to business insider.com, current and former Army officials have said for some time that the range and stopping power of the 5.56 mm round currently in use underperform that of rounds used by adversaries.

The M4/M16 platform has also been criticized, in part because of concerns about jamming and overheating.

Most soldiers and Marines carry M4s, M16s, or M27s that fire 5.56 mm rounds. Specialized personnel, like machine-gunners or snipers, already use weapons that fire rounds of 7.62 mm or some other caliber.