Bartholomew Roberts
Moderator
And then all the money they spent trying to spin off and sell the XM8 to the Army. Dodged that bullet...
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Army Times story
- Thread starter oldscot3
- Start date
And then all the money they spent trying to spin off and sell the XM8 to the Army. Dodged that bullet...
The Army is looking into purchasing another 308 Battle rifle. To replace the M110 (the Knights Armament SR-25), not to replace the M4.
The USMC did just put out an RFI which opens up the caliber option to be anything from 5.56 to 7.62 with all the wonder calibers in between. I do not believe that anything will come of it except either an M4A2 variant or more M27s purchased.
Jimro
The USMC did just put out an RFI which opens up the caliber option to be anything from 5.56 to 7.62 with all the wonder calibers in between. I do not believe that anything will come of it except either an M4A2 variant or more M27s purchased.
Jimro
oldscot3,
You must be referring to this: https://www.armytimes.com/articles/...inside-the-armys-plan-to-ditch-the-m4-and-556
This is the same author, Todd South who wrote this: http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/socom-is-looking-at-a-new-65mm-round-for-its-sniper-rifle
The above articles are "true" in that the Army and SOCOM is doing some testing. However the truth is that the Army (and Navy) are doing testing on things ALL the time. Right now there are no Congressionally funded programs to replace the 5.56x45 round of which I am aware.
Things that are true, and are funded.
The Army is looking for a replacement SDR solution in 7.62:
http://soldiersystems.net/2017/04/05/us-army-considers-7-62-interim-battle-rifle/
H&K won the M110 replacement with their G28 compact semi auto sniper rifle last year, and the back channel chatter is that the Army wants an SDR rifle that isn't an M14EBR so the SDMs don't stand out like sore thumbs.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/04/27/us-army-search-new-762mm-rifle.html
The SDM rifle will be issued at one per Infantry squad, not one per Soldier.
The USMC is keeping everything from 5.56 to 7.62 open in its latest RFI: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportu...db8f8d9d63cea72e0ac81854370&tab=core&_cview=0
So right now, there no open contracts to replace the M4A1 in the Army, and the USMC has an open RFI to explore the option of replacing the M4 they just adopted as the standard infantry rifle with something else (something that looks suspiciously like an M4A2 variant or M27 variant in 5.56x45). The RFI is not a contract for acquisition though, it is a process to help the USMC determine if the juice is worth the squeeze to replace what they've got.
Jimro
You must be referring to this: https://www.armytimes.com/articles/...inside-the-armys-plan-to-ditch-the-m4-and-556
This is the same author, Todd South who wrote this: http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/socom-is-looking-at-a-new-65mm-round-for-its-sniper-rifle
The above articles are "true" in that the Army and SOCOM is doing some testing. However the truth is that the Army (and Navy) are doing testing on things ALL the time. Right now there are no Congressionally funded programs to replace the 5.56x45 round of which I am aware.
Things that are true, and are funded.
The Army is looking for a replacement SDR solution in 7.62:
http://soldiersystems.net/2017/04/05/us-army-considers-7-62-interim-battle-rifle/
H&K won the M110 replacement with their G28 compact semi auto sniper rifle last year, and the back channel chatter is that the Army wants an SDR rifle that isn't an M14EBR so the SDMs don't stand out like sore thumbs.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/04/27/us-army-search-new-762mm-rifle.html
The SDM rifle will be issued at one per Infantry squad, not one per Soldier.
The USMC is keeping everything from 5.56 to 7.62 open in its latest RFI: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportu...db8f8d9d63cea72e0ac81854370&tab=core&_cview=0
So right now, there no open contracts to replace the M4A1 in the Army, and the USMC has an open RFI to explore the option of replacing the M4 they just adopted as the standard infantry rifle with something else (something that looks suspiciously like an M4A2 variant or M27 variant in 5.56x45). The RFI is not a contract for acquisition though, it is a process to help the USMC determine if the juice is worth the squeeze to replace what they've got.
Jimro
I was doing "tabletop" studies of the requirements for a 5.56 replacement in the early 1980's.
And here in 2017 we're still using 5.56
The Army will eventually replace the 5.56, but just as the 5.56 was a modification of an existing cartridge, not an adoption of an existing cartridge, we can expect to see the new cartridge be something specific to the military's needs, not adoption of something that already exists. And given what has to go into such a switch, I suspect only the youngest readers of this site will live to see it in widespread service.
For most of us, the service rifle round will be the 5.56 for the rest of our lives.
And here in 2017 we're still using 5.56
The Army will eventually replace the 5.56, but just as the 5.56 was a modification of an existing cartridge, not an adoption of an existing cartridge, we can expect to see the new cartridge be something specific to the military's needs, not adoption of something that already exists. And given what has to go into such a switch, I suspect only the youngest readers of this site will live to see it in widespread service.
For most of us, the service rifle round will be the 5.56 for the rest of our lives.