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Army officials may have some\u00a0lofty aspirations\u00a0for the service’s much-hyped Next Generation Squad Weapon, but at least they finally have an honest-to-God prototype to play with.<\/p>\n<\/u>En el marco de desarrollos con el objetivo de proporcionar mayor letalidad a las peque\u00f1as fracciones, el Programa del US Army denominado \u201cNEXT GENERATION SQUAD WEAPON\u201d (NGSW), ha alcanzado la etapa de evaluaci\u00f3n del 1er Prototipo Funcional. Menor peso del arma y su munici\u00f3n, adopci\u00f3n del calibre 6.8mm, Cartuchos del tipo \u201cCase Telescoped Ammo\u201d as\u00ed como tecnolog\u00eda integrada de control del fuego, son algunas de las caracter\u00edsticas distintivas de este arma autom\u00e1tica de apoyo del Grupo de Tiradores.<\/p>\n
Army officials may have some\u00a0lofty aspirations\u00a0for the service’s much-hyped Next Generation Squad Weapon, but at least they finally have an honest-to-God prototype to play with.<\/p>\n
Textron Systems’ AAI Corporation on Monday\u00a0announced\u00a0the delivery of its initial Next Generation Squad Weapon-Technology (NGSW-T) prototype demonstrator to Army combat capabilities officials to “inform the Army’s formal NGSW program and include weapon and ammunition weight reduction, weapon sound suppression, as well as fire control integration technology,” the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The NGSW-T delivery is separate from the\u00a0contract\u00a0that AAI received alongside four other defense contractors\u00a0last year\u00a0to whip up prototype Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifles (NGSAR) for the service. That demonstrator should end up in Army hands by June of this year, according to the company.<\/p>\n
“Moving from contract award to delivery of a revolutionary, next-generation weapon in just 15 months not only demonstrates the maturity of our [cased telescoped ammunition] technology, but also the project execution excellence our team possesses to rapidly fill critical warfighter needs on schedule,”\u00a0said\u00a0Textron senior VP Wayne Prender in a statement.<\/p>\n
The Army is looking for some unique features in its new rifle. NGSW team leader Arthur Fiorellini previously\u00a0detailed\u00a0the Army’s requirements in an interview with Task & Purpose in February, including\u00a0chambering in 6.8mm, a suppressor base designed to compensate for the intermediate round, a miniaturized ballistics computer, and a specially-designed fire control system, among other goodies.<\/p>\n
Based on those requirements, AAI’s submission has a good shot at forming the basis of the Army’s next standard-issue service rifle. As The War Zone\u00a0notes, not only do Textron and its subsidiaries have years of experience supplying automatic weapon prototype demonstrators to the Army, but the company recently unveiled a rifle with its cased-telescoped ammo that’s an “obvious starting place” for the Army’s next 6.8mm weapon:<\/p>\n
The existing weapon has a general shape very similar to the service’s\u00a0existing M4 carbine\u00a0and features many of the same controls as other AR-15\/M16-series firearms and derivatives, including the fire control selector and t-shaped charging handle.<\/em><\/p>\n This general commonality with the Army’s existing standard issue weapon could make it particularly attractive. Any time a major U.S. military service adopts a new rifle, it’s not only a major logistical undertaking, but one that puts significant strains on training, as well.<\/em><\/p>\n Whether all of this will add up to the ‘iPhone of lethality’ that Army officials described to Task & Purpose back in February remains to be seen. But at least Army officials will finally have a physical rifle to sink their teeth into.<\/p>\n