- Location
- The Orion Arm
Inside the replacement of the US Armys rifles and calibers
- Thread starter Melnibonean
- Start date
Diamondback Six
CGN frequent flyer
Prediction: Any change in Big Army requires a literal Act of Congress, and this Congress is real big on NO action. TLDR: M16/M4 design with minor tinkering exceeds service life of Brown Bess musket.
surplusshooter
Regular
- Location
- Princeton BC
This will probably end up like so many other U.S. military programs in the last 3 decades; they'll set the performance requirements so high that there's no way that they can be adequately met, and so the project will flounder and piss away money that could be better spend elsewhere until its finally cancelled.
It doesn't need to pass or even be adopted, for companies to make reams of cash on the development of a project that may never go anywhere.
This. Pick a 3 to 5 letter acronym for the project. Announce it with a big splash. In 6 months cancel it
Wait 18 months and repeat. Ensure preferred vendors continue to receive money for prototyping whatever gimmick has been declared essential.
This will happen, because M249 SAW is due to and needed to be replaced.
There is a requirement in the US to penetrate ceramic armour - your typical 5.56 and 76.2 will not do the job properly. The velocity / mass combination even with tungsten will not do the job adequately. The 6.8 bullet is not your commercial 6.8 bullet, it is specifically developed by the US government to fulfill the requirement. These new cartridges are operating at 20% higher in pressure than the current brass cased ones. They are pumping out these 6.8 pills at over 3000 fps out of 16-18" bbl - faster than a 18" M249/C9/Minimi can drive the current 5.56 62gr NATO ball.
There is also dis-satisfaction with the M249/C9/Minimi, as it is not the most reliable platform and heavy for what it is. The Brits are also withdrawing their version of M249/C9/Minimi, and in replacement word is that they are going to have more 7.62 DMR in section level. The MOD report find that soldiers think M249/C9/Minimi doesn't do anything the SA80 could not do, and they favour more precision fire. This thinking is kinda in the same direction as the USMC as they ditch all the M249 within rifle squad.
Personally, I like the True Velocity plastic cartridge, and the SIG LMG. The SIG ammo is conventional and this does't provide enough weight saving. While I don't think the 5.56 M4 will be 100% replaced, I will expect the 6.8 LMG will come through and also a DMR in 6.8 down the road ( to replace HK they just bought) with some changes in the typical US army rifle squad to employ these new weapons.
If you look at the big picture, replacing all the brass cased 7.62 GPMG and SAW with a 6.8 plastic cased ammo weapon can save a lot of money in transportation. In aerial platform, less weight means more lift for other things and less fuel consumption = range and altitude
There is a requirement in the US to penetrate ceramic armour - your typical 5.56 and 76.2 will not do the job properly. The velocity / mass combination even with tungsten will not do the job adequately. The 6.8 bullet is not your commercial 6.8 bullet, it is specifically developed by the US government to fulfill the requirement. These new cartridges are operating at 20% higher in pressure than the current brass cased ones. They are pumping out these 6.8 pills at over 3000 fps out of 16-18" bbl - faster than a 18" M249/C9/Minimi can drive the current 5.56 62gr NATO ball.
There is also dis-satisfaction with the M249/C9/Minimi, as it is not the most reliable platform and heavy for what it is. The Brits are also withdrawing their version of M249/C9/Minimi, and in replacement word is that they are going to have more 7.62 DMR in section level. The MOD report find that soldiers think M249/C9/Minimi doesn't do anything the SA80 could not do, and they favour more precision fire. This thinking is kinda in the same direction as the USMC as they ditch all the M249 within rifle squad.
Personally, I like the True Velocity plastic cartridge, and the SIG LMG. The SIG ammo is conventional and this does't provide enough weight saving. While I don't think the 5.56 M4 will be 100% replaced, I will expect the 6.8 LMG will come through and also a DMR in 6.8 down the road ( to replace HK they just bought) with some changes in the typical US army rifle squad to employ these new weapons.
If you look at the big picture, replacing all the brass cased 7.62 GPMG and SAW with a 6.8 plastic cased ammo weapon can save a lot of money in transportation. In aerial platform, less weight means more lift for other things and less fuel consumption = range and altitude
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