New primary military round will be 6.8 and it will have a plastic case, not brass

[George P]

It's interesting the world's major militaries settled on using very similar ammunition -- basically 22 caliber steel core bullets around 3000 fps or so (5.56x45, 5.45x39, 5.8x42). If by chance we actually changed our service cartridge, I wonder how long before everyone else copies the idea?

Well, we have to keep funding that giant Military Industrial Complex that Ike warned us about

 

[CapnMac]

Basically everything is going to be replaced with new tech.

Been hearing that for around half a century, I'm still in Missouri--will believe it when I see it.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

In a battle against near-peer nations, isn't the rifle issued just to give grunts something to occupy their hands? IIRC something like 1,000,000 rounds were expended in VN for each person killed by small arms fire. Presumably if we ever tangle with Russia or China it wouldn't make much difference what if any rifles our guy and gals had.

 

[upptick]

Don't count on it.
There are billions tied up in current rifles & carbines (and all the ammo). It would take a truly amazing amount of significant difference for riles and carbines to be ditched. .... DoD has a long history of ginning up these demonstrations once every decade or so, tossing a few millions at each of them, and they just walking away.

What's different this time -- maybe -- is the fact that current assault rifle cartridge is ineffective against the body armor of near-peer military forces. That's gotta be weighing on someone conscience -- or at least it should be -- and I'd be surprised if we DON'T see either a new armor-piercing 5.56 round or a new caliber / assault rifle in the near term. Moreover, adopting a new round or a whole new rifle would also mean shoveling serious coal into the military-industrial furnace, i.e. a defense contractor / lobbyist's wet dream so you know there's going to be serious pressure coming from that angle too.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

What's different this time -- maybe -- is the fact that current assault rifle cartridge is ineffective against the body armor of near-peer military forces. That's gotta be weighing on someone conscience -- or at least it should be -- and I'd be surprised if we DON'T see either a new armor-piercing 5.56 round or a new caliber / assault rifle in the near term.

I think there is a relatively new 5.56 AP round that's downright terrifying!

 

[Elkins45]

Been hearing that for around half a century, I'm still in Missouri--will believe it when I see it.

Everything will eventually be replaced. The debatable question is how far into the future “eventually” is.

 

[1942bull]

As @CapnMac stated in post #6 the new round is for the squad automatic weapon, but there is additional info on it. I just researched it and found some more info on the topic. The link below is from Defense News and it is cited in many of articles about the new round.

https://www.defensenews.com/news/yo...d-m4-replacement-is-headed-to-troops-by-2022/

So eventually (years from now) the new weapon will serve as the individual’s rifle and squad automatic weapon. The Marines have are doing the same thing now replacing the M4/M16 variants with the M27 in its infantry ranks (not across the board). The Corps will adopt the new Army rifle when it is available for routine distribution. The elimination of the SAW makes logistics more efficient. The M27 and the in-development will allow multiple automatic fire options at the squad level. No longer will grunts hear what we heard from squad leaders in Nam: “we need to get an M60 up here and fast.

 

[mcb]

Go back and look at my first post in this thread. The NGSW program requires all the bidders to submit two weapons to the program for consideration, one to replace the M4 and one to replace the SAW and both weapons are required to fire the same ammo using the 6.8mm projectile developed in a separate program by the Army itself. There are currently three teams competing for the contract (assuming the Army actually awards the contract...) The case telescoping round in the OP is the ammunition Textron is proposing to use in both of their submissions to the NGSW program. True Velocity is the ammunition being use by both versions of the General Dynamics submissions. GD is actually using one weapon configured two different ways to replace both the M4 & SAW. Textron and Sig are submitting two different designs for the two roles. Sig has developed their own hybrid steel/brass case for their submissions.

 

[LiberalVet]

Non-metallic cases have a very real thermodynamic hurdle to overcome in terms of heat management. Brass cases remove a LOT of heat energy from the system, as anyone who has ever had a casing go down their shirt knows well.

Polymer cases won’t remove nearly as much heat, requiring either reduced firing rates or some sort of new cooling technology. Or cooler burning propellants.

YES! Just think of the defense contract money that will have to be spent solving this and then replacing every weapon system before it’s really ready for prime time!

‘Ol Gunny and his M14 is now gonna be ‘Ol Gunny and his M4

 

[Jim Watson]

What are the Marines saying about the M27 as a box magazine squad weapon? Shades of the BAR.

I still think that because of high acquisition costs and likely high maintenance requirements, the 6.8 of whichever flavor will only go to the kewlest units, accompanied by a campaign by COs to prove their units are kewl by getting them the latest and greatest.