Next Generation Squad Weapons 6.8mm Weapons and Ammo for Army NGSW

No matter how light the are, they are still big, because the 6.8 is basically a 308 and all the weapons are GPMG and battle rifle sized weapons. All the magazine and ammo are still taking 308 volume.

The 6.8 rifle is a no go to replace the M4. My prediction is that it will evolve into a designated squad designated marksman to replace the HK417 aka the SDM. And eventually a heavier barrel version of the 6.8 SAW will also replace the M240 GPMG.

The biggest question is how the US army will change its squad and platoon tactics with "bigger guns and less ammo", or it turns out that at certain level the squad needs to have so much ammo you can't just have too many big guns with big ammo. Or perhaps the robotic squad carrier is almost here and this issue could be resolved.
 
Correcting a software issue (not enough training) with a hardware solution (different guns / calibers).

The ARMY way.
 
I'm not sure how this program is going to play out. I wonder if they're going to issue the NGSW to combat arms only and legacy 5.56 weapons to everyone else? I have a hard time envisioning these guns replacing all 5.56 weapon systems for big army. These look like big heavy guns pushing ammunition at some impressive velocities.

Or the program could go the way of every other small arms program and get cancelled. If that does happen, with any luck we'll see the benefits of concepts derived from the program. Perhaps we'll still be using 5.56 in the next 20-30 years but it could be caseless, or telescoping lightweight ammunition. Maybe everyone will get suppressors in the future.
 
I suspect the 6.8 is here to stay because ceramic personal armour penetration ( not just range extension) is the reason 6.8 is selected. You can see in the Video Karl was choking back the comments the last second on camera, multiple times. The rapid acquisition of HK417 as the SDM is to put armour penetration capability into the hands of the soldier, all these actions are related to general armour distribution amongst Russian troops and the Chinese is not far behind.

The other piece of the NSGW is the optic - Votex and L3 are the contenders. It combines LAD, automatic adjustment and others into one package. If all these are combined to together, I guess they are hoping to achieve and exceed what the USMC is doing with the M27. More accurate first hits and less bullets downrange. This will makes sense because automatic rifles are not supposed to be the same as light machine guns - one is mostly a point target wpn and the other is mostly an area wpn, but for years the US uses a LMG platform to do both. So it is kinda flipped to the other side now, it looks like the US is open for an automatic rifle that may do some LMG works.
 
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Given the impressive pace of materials science these days, I don't suppose it will be particularly difficult to field 6.8mm resistant body armor in 5 to 10 years, putting the U.S. back to square one.
 
They had the same issue was tanks. Build a tank with thicker armour, you just build a bigger gun to defeat it.
 
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