Army looking at a new 6.8mm round?

Posted last week: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-...-deadly-round/

The Army has selected 6.8mm as the new common round for both its Squad Automatic Weapon and M4 replacement.

A Prototype Opportunity Notice posted on the government website fbo.gov is going to give three companies the chance to submit their versions of the new individual service rifle, the Next Generation Squad Weapon, chambered in 6.8mm, the same round that developers are using for the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program.

Until recently, officials would only say that developers were being encouraged to look at requirements in the intermediate caliber range, somewhere between the existing 5.56mm and 7.62mm rounds common to individual, sniper and machine guns in the Army’s inventory.

Until recently, the goal was to first develop the NGSAR and then allow its advancements to inform the development of the M4 replacement, the NGSW-Rifle.

Didn't they say not too long ago (less than a year ago) that 7.62 would be their new round to replace their M4's and SAWS?

I guess that project didn't work out. Take the statements and rumors with a grain of salt.

They already have it right. You aren't going to get significantly better terminal performance with the 6.8 compared to the 5.56 using ball rounds. Especially when compared to the 77 gr MK 262. It's not worth the cost for such a marginal increase.

Doesn't this thing (new rifle/new cartridge) come and go every 3 - 4 years?

Going to be interesting to see what comes out of it as they did not specify a cartridge, or even a performance envelope. Just they had to use the provide projectiles.

Seems to me like they are free from M-16/AR-15 constraints, so could go a bit longer.

Yet the various announcements state the expectation is same capacity/weight in terms of battle load. Only way to do that is caseless or similar breakthru.

Way I read this it's just a contract to build prototypes of MGs and carbines sharing the same ammo. I hope something comes out of it that sticks!

Some additional info.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...t-replace-556/

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Originally Posted by DragonDoc

Some additional info.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...t-replace-556/

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Since the 1960s, the U.S. Army has used the 5.56-millimeter round. The number refers to the diameter of the bullet, which also corresponds to .22 inches. Unlike civilian .22 rounds however the 5.56 round is heavier, longer, and travels at greater velocity, transferring much more energy to the target and causing much more serious wounds

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Derp is strong with this one.

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Originally Posted by Don Quijote

Derp is strong with this one.

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All the articles are pretty sketchy... They start with "the Army has selected a new round...". They have not in those solicitations anyway.

They provided projectiles, so it would have been accurate to say "the Army appears to be heading to a new *caliber*". It appears tahe exact cartridge has not been selected, nor is anything specified in the gov solicitations.

The self interest side of me hopes it's something like 6.8spc so civvys would benefit. But I hope for the Army's sake it's a breakthrough beyond the AR/M-16 bound cartridges. A true intermediate not restricted by 40+ year old magwell length.

Aqnd if you look at the performance objectives I don't see how they're going to do it without something like caseless.

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Originally Posted by Don Quijote

Derp is strong with this one.

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Never trust mainstream media to get it right. All anyone can say with certainty is that it APPEARS that the army has chosen 6.8mm as the diameter of the projectile.

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Originally Posted by pinzgauer

All the articles are pretty sketchy... They start with "the Army has selected a new round...". They have not in those solicitations anyway.

They provided projectiles, so it would have been accurate to say "the Army appears to be heading to a new *caliber*". It appears tahe exact cartridge has not been selected, nor is anything specified in the gov solicitations.

The self interest side of me hopes it's something like 6.8spc so civvys would benefit. But I hope for the Army's sake it's a breakthrough beyond the AR/M-16 bound cartridges. A true intermediate not restricted by 40+ year old magwell length.

Aqnd if you look at the performance objectives I don't see how they're going to do it without something like caseless.

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What the army is hoping to achieve is some kind of polymer cased telescoped ammo. The technology already exists in cannon sized caliber guns, its just needs to be adapted to small arms. Caseless has too many thermodynamic problems for it to be a thing in terms of today and near future technology so that wont be a thing.


https://www.guns.com/wp-content/uplo...ammunition.jpg

http://www.militaryparitet.com/forum...5454/LAST4.GIF

Here is the .gov RFP, give it a read. Looks like they are set on 6.8.

https://www.fbo.gov/index.php?s=oppo...=core&_cview=0

https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=61...cc98449ca459c9

Another interesting article,

"The U.S. Army's chief of staff said Monday that its 6.8mm... "It will fire at speeds that far exceed the velocity of bullets today, and it will penetrate any existing or known ... body armor that's out there," Gen. Mark Milley"


https://www.military.com/kitup/2018/...d-weapons.html