[Defense Post] The U.S. Defense Department is requesting $111.2 million from Congress to develop the so-called Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) to replace the M4A1 Carbine, M16 and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) by the end of 2023.
The budget request, made public on Monday, February 10, asks more than double last year’s funding for the NGSW program and includes $35.8 million for procurement.
One aim of the NGSW is to give U.S. Army infantry greater effective range by replacing the squad’s 5.56 mm NATO-chambered weapons with rifles that fire a new and unique 6.8 mm round.
The Army in August 2019 selected Textron Systems, General Dynamics and Sig Sauer to develop prototypes for the new line of weapons.
The Defense Department intends the funds to complete prototyping for the new rifle, automatic rifle (AR) and ammunition and will select one of the three versions by the end of 2021.
"The new more lethal carbine and Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) provides Brigade Combat Teams with additional capability when engaging an adversaries [sic] ground forces," the request reads.
The M249 SAW was introduced in 1984 to give infantry squads a belt-fed weapon with a high rate of fire. The U.S. Marine Corps has already begun replacing the M249 with the new M27, a variant of Heckler and Koch’s HK 416. The Army has said it has no plans to adopt the M27.
The overhaul comes amidst a strategic shift from two decades of fighting insurgencies in the Middle East towards preparation to counter the evolving capabilities of Russia and China. |