'Sweating' to Next-Gen Soldier Lethality.

• Author: Gourley, Scott R.

The U.S. Army is preparing to introduce a new arsenal of small arms capabilities to its "close combat force"--the approximately 103,000 soldiers identified as those most directly responsible for closing with and destroying the enemy.

A cornerstone of these new capabilities can be found in the service's Next-Generation Squad Weapons program emerging from Army Futures Command's soldier lethality cross-functional team. Focused on enhancing squad-level lethality for the close combat force, the initiative is a prototyping effort mat consists of a rifle (NGSW-R) and automatic rifle (NGSW-AR) with a common 6.8mm cartridge and fire control (NGSW-FC) between the two systems. The goal is to field the NGSW-R to selected units as the planned replacement for me current M4A1 and the NGSW-AR as the planned replacement for me current M249 Squad Automatic Weapon.

The project is not a stand-alone weapons program. Instead, it recognizes that Army close combat capabilities reflect a combination of factors identified as soldier, weapon, enabler, ammunition and training, or SWEAT. That philosophy is one of the things that makes NGSW different from some past weapons programs.

One classic example of previous Army small arms efforts directed toward the introduction of "leap ahead capabilities" nearly three decades ago was the Advanced Combat Rifle program, which explored four candidate designs developed by AAI Corp., Colt Industries, Heckler & Koch Inc. and Steyr-Mannlicher as possible replacements for the M16A2. In addition to fire control and ergonomic enhancements, the ACR prototypes featured four different ammunition technologies: AAI's molded sabot steel flechette in an M855 5.56mm brass case; Colt's 5.56mm "duplex" round, witih two projectiles in one cartridge; Heckler & Koch's 4.92mm ball ammunition in a caseless cartridge; and Steyr's 5.56mm synthetic cased flechette ammo.

Following early engineering and safety testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1989, the Army began field testing the four candidates, together with the M16A2, in January 1990. Army testers said at the time that they hoped to find a technology that would "double the hit probability of the M16A2," with the possibility that a "superior technology" could be fielded as early as 1995. The "field experiment" was completed in the fall of 1990 with data analyzed for inclusion in the Army's Small Arms Master Plan, although that process was complicated due to higher priorities that quickly emerged during the Gulf War, which began in...