What does Sup Forums think about the newest US assault rifle program? Waste of taxpayer money in order to line up the pockets of the military industrial complex or not? Good idea or will they abandon it and stick with the M4? Which one do you think might win?
>The GD RM277 assault rifle is being developed by a consortium of companies, led by American industrial giant General Dynamics for the NGSW-R “Next Generation Squad Weapon – Rifle” program, funded by US Army. Besides GD, which acts as a system integrator and project leader, consortium also includes Beretta USA, which is responsible for the weapon itself, and True Velocity, which is responsible for new ammunition.
Highly ambitious NGSW program is intended to equip American infantrymen with new rifle and squad automatic weapon / light machine gun, both firing new, high-performance ammunition. Ultimate goal is to deliver squad small arms system, capable to defeat modern body armor at extended ranges and produce improved lethality, compared to existing 5.56mm small arms system. Requirements for NGSW program call for an entirely new cartridge, firing government-designed bullet with caliber of 6.8mm and weight or about 135 grains / 8.8 grams, with muzzle velocities of about 3000 fps / 915 m/s or even faster. These requirements, especially from a relatively short assault rifle barrel, call for very high bore pressures, which in turn would result in powerful muzzle blast and significant felt recoil. As a result, special type of sound suppressor is a must for these weapons, to help to attenuate “magnum” level muzzle blast and tame recoil.
>Current plans call for NGSW program winner to be announced by 2022, but with previous similar programs like SPIW, ACR or OICW in mind we shall wait and see for the results. At the present time all NGSW contenders, including GD RM277 assault rifle, as well as SIG MCX Spear and AAI / Textron NGSW-R, are still in prototype form.
>Since particulars of the cartridge design are left out to contenders, consortium led by GD is intended to offer a unique composite cartridge, designed by True Velocity and loaded by a government-designed 6.8mm projectile. Exact specifications of the new round are not known yet, and might change during the course of development, but as of late 2019 it features “neckless” polymer case about 47 mm long, with steel base molded in at the rear. Bullet is deeply seated in the case, which apparently has thick upper part to provide sort of “internal” neck for proper positioning of the projectile.
General Dynamics / Beretta GD RM277 assault rifle is an indigenous weapon of bullpup design. Particulars of its inner workings are not yet known, but it is believed that rifle uses more or less conventional gas operated action, and its barrel and inner receiver are allowed to recoil inside the outer housing against a special buffer to decrease peak recoil. Gun is fired from closed bolt in single shots, and from open bolt in full automatic, to improve barrel cooling and avoid cook-offs. Ammunition is fed from 20-round box magazines, made from plastic, and barrel is normally fitted with specially designed stubby sound suppressor. It appears that ejection ports are provided on both sides of the gun, so it can be set for right- or left-hand side ejection. Safety / fire selector switch is ambidextrous and located above the pistol grip. Charging handle can be set on either side of the gun. All sights are installed using integrated Picatinny rail located on the top of receiver.
>The MCX Spear assault rifle is being developed by American division of international SIG Sauer gun making company under NGSW-R – “Next Generation Squad Weapon – Rifle” program, funded by US Army.
>This highly ambitious program is intended to equip American infantrymen with new rifle and squad automatic weapon / light machine gun, both firing new, high-performance ammunition. Ultimate goal is to deliver squad small arms system, capable to defeat modern body armor at extended ranges and produce improved lethality, compared to existing 5.56mm small arms system. Requirements for NGSW program call for an entirely new cartridge, firing government-designed bullet with caliber of 6.8mm and weight or about 135 grains / 8.8 grams, with muzzle velocities of about 3000 fps / 915 m/s or even faster. These requirements, especially from a relatively short assault rifle barrel, call for very high bore pressures, which in turn would result in powerful muzzle blast and significant felt recoil. As a result, special type of sound suppressor is a must for these weapons, to help to attenuate “magnum” level muzzle blast and tame recoil.
>Since particulars of the cartridge design are left out to contenders, SIG Sauer decided to go along with hybrid cartridge case design, in which case walls are made from brass, and the cartridge base is made from some other, lighter metal, such as steel or aluminum alloy. This design allows to retain backward compatibility with traditional ammunition, and offer weight savings of about 20-30% per empty case, compared with current style all-brass cases.
>Current plans call for NGSW program winner to be announced by 2022, but with previous similar programs like SPIW, ACR or OICW in mind we shall wait and see for the results. At the present time all NGSW contenders, including SIG Sauer MCX Spear assault rifle, are still in prototype form.
>SIG Sauer NGSW-R MCX Spear assault rifle is based on the popular SIG MCX rifle platform, but with certain upgrades. Gun is operated using traditional short stroke gas piston; gas system has manual regulator with two settings. Barrel is locked using a rotary bolt, and bolt return spring is located in the upper receiver, above the bolt group. To reduce peak recoil to comfortable levels, entire barrel / barrel extension / bolt assembly can recoil inside the receiver against a special buffer, located below and to the rear of the generally cylindrical barrel extension which contains bolt group. Firing controls are generally similar to M16 rifle / M4 carbine, although SIG Sauer NGSW-R MCX Spear prototype features additional non-reciprocating folding charging handle on the left of the receiver, besides “M16 standard” T-shaped handle at the rear. Ammunition is fed from 20-round box magazines, made from plastic, and barrel is normally fitted with specially designed sound suppressor, also developed by SIG Sauer. All sights are installed using integrated Picatinny rail located on the top of receiver and forend.
Caliber 6,8х51 Length, mm ~ 900 (with suppressor) Barrel length, mm 330 Weight, kg ? Rate of fire, rounds/minute ? Magazine capacity, rounds 20
>The Textron / AAI NGSW-R assault rifle is being developed by AAI corporation, which is now part of the much larger Textron Systems Corporation, under NGSW-R – “Next Generation Squad Weapon – Rifle” program, funded by US Army.
>This highly ambitious program is intended to equip American infantrymen with new rifle and squad automatic weapon / light machine gun, both firing new, high-performance ammunition. Ultimate goal is to deliver squad small arms system, capable to defeat modern body armor at extended ranges and produce improved lethality, compared to existing 5.56mm small arms system. Requirements for NGSW program call for an entirely new cartridge, firing government-designed bullet with caliber of 6.8mm and weight or about 135 grains / 8.8 grams, with muzzle velocities of about 3000 fps / 915 m/s or even faster. These requirements, especially from a relatively short assault rifle barrel, call for very high bore pressures, which in turn would result in powerful muzzle blast and significant felt recoil. As a result, special type of sound suppressor is a must for these weapons, to help to attenuate “magnum” level muzzle blast and tame recoil.
>Since particulars of the cartridge design are left out to contenders, Textron NGSW system uses case telescoped ammunition concept, which was developed earlier by AAI Corp for LSAT program. The 6.7mm NGSW telescoped cartridge features cylindrical case made entirely from polymer, and it is noticeably longer than previous 6.5mm and 7.62mm LSAT telescoped case rounds. As is the case with other NGSW entrants, the SIG Sauer and General Dynamics, no specifications of the new cartridge or weapon are published yet, as of late 2019.
>Current plans call for NGSW program winner to be announced by 2022, but with previous similar programs like SPIW, ACR or OICW in mind we shall wait and see for the results. At the present time all NGSW contenders are still in prototype form.
>Textron NGSW-R assault rifle is broadly based on the research and development work, done by AAI during the LSAT program. It uses gas operated action with vertically moving cartridge chamber. Fresh rounds are loaded into the chamber from the rear, empty cases are pushed forward from the chamber by next rounds, and then ejected out of the gun to the right. Loading and ejection is performed while chamber is lowered from firing to loading position by special cam tracks, attached to the operating slide, which reciprocates back and forth behind the breech part of the barrel. Slide is powered by gas piston, located above the barrel. Rearward movement of the slide cocks the hammer and lowers the chamber for reloading; return (forward) movement of the slide is powered by a return spring, located in the butt; it allows the loaded chamber to rise under pressure of its lift springs until it is aligned with the bore, so gun can be fired, and then the cycle repeats itself. Ejection port is positioned on the left, well in front of the magazine, and raises some concerns about possibilities of it being blocked by a left hand of the operator. Ejection port has spring-loaded dust cover. Ammunition is fed from 20-round box magazines, made from plastic, and barrel is normally fitted with specially designed sound suppressor. All sights are installed using integrated Picatinny rail located on the top of receiver and forend.
Caliber 6,8mm Length, mm ? Barrel length, mm ? Weight, kg ? Rate of fire, rounds/minute ? Magazine capacity, rounds 20
Do but don’t understand the suppressors if they’re meant to be the new standard issue. Aren’t suppressors not great for for long service life? Why not a muzzle break. Also thought bullpups were generally disliked by the US
Jeremiah Allen
guarantee you they want to replace 5.56 stoner rifles so civilians can't loot something with common widespread parts and ammo in the event of civil war or collapse
Christopher Long
A bullpup with be a huge waste of time and money. The ergonomics of reloading are garbage plus all the time to retrain soldiers to be proficient with a new weapon system. Should stick with an AR platform
Not the guy you're replying to, but it's stupid to think it's not possible. The left is off it's rocker and we're about to reelect Trump. Shit could go bad very quickly.
Ethan Thompson
Cars have mufflers and unmuffled engines aren't as loud as guns. Silencers should have been standard issue 150 years ago
Aaron James
I think that it is a step forward.
Jason Stewart
Unless the US has secretly developed some really good body armour and they're worried about other countries getting it I don't see them replacing the ar. Most bullpup countries are switching back to conventional rifles.
Grayson Davis
The same thing that happened with the scar program will happen with this. They will test the rifles determine that there isn’t a significant gain over the current platforms and scrap the program. If any of these three do get adopted it will most likely be the sig sauer contribution. It’s closest to the current issue so there will be less issues with training soldiers. The reasons that they want to increase the bullet size is due to the issues they are having with the 5.56 at the distances that the current conflicts are happening. They need something that hits harder at distance but they don’t want to take the weight penalty of 7.62x51
Leo Gray
Only one of the contestants is bullpup.
Jace Hernandez
bullpup is a retarded design though so hopefully none of the bullpup types survive to field trials.
also hasn't the US been seeking a replacement for its main individual small arm for what 30 years?
I still remember watching them talk about the SPIW and shit like that when i was 12 on the history channel
