The US Military moving away from standard NATO 5.56mm to 8.8mm (Army, Marines)

[Brave New World]

The US Army is expected to announce the winner of the Next Generation Squad Weapon Program in coming months.

The new weapon will replace the M4 Carbine, M249 SAW, and M240 machine gun however it will fire 6.8 rather than 5.56, meaning the US no longer fires the NATO standard ammunition.

Unless NATO changes up to 6.8 then the ease of a common ammunition in terms of logistics and interoperability.

It's also worth noting that US Marines are replacing their current standard weapon with the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, based on the Heckler & Koch HK416, which is 5.56mm.

So are the US Army and Marines, as well as the rest of NATO going to have different standard ammunition.

The choice is now between two 6.8mm weapons, the United States True Velocity RM-277R bullpup rifle and RM-277AR machine gun, and the SIG Sauer, Inc: SIG MCX Spear rifle (NGSW-R) and SIG MG 6.8 belt-fed machine gun (NGSW-AR) utilizing custom SIG 6.8x51.

Can anyone shed any light on this, and whether NATO might follow suit.

Next Generation Squad Weapon Program - Wikipedia


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoBOuv6qJNU

[ericsvibe]

The M27 is basically a beefed up version of the M4 which converts the rifle into a piston gun, instead of a gas gun. This decreases the amount of heat transferred back to the receiver and gets rid of the problem of having combustion byproducts deposited back into the receiver. The rifle is functionally similar in every other way to the M4. The biggest advantage that the Marines wanted was to replace the M249. The M249 is a very expensive piece of gear, it's heavy, and it requires more maintenance than the M27. So the Marines basically are trading one rifle, the M27 for two.

The advantage of using 6.8mm ammo is it only requires an upper receiver and barrel change. It's very cost effective to upgrade your existing modular rifle stock. Which is another reason to get rid of the M249. It takes me minutes to swap out my .308 upper and barrel for my 6.5 Creedmore. I don't even have to take the optics off. My .308 has a 3x9 optic with 16 inch barrel, my 6.5 has a 9x16 optic with 24 inch barrel. One rifle, two different uses. This flexibility will allow the Military to tailor equipment for different missions, without the cost of having to purchase a bunch of different weapon systems. The standard AR15, AR10 variants can cover everything. Close quarters battle, use the 5.56 uppers. Fighting across open plains, use 6.8. Need one shot stopping power in urban areas, equip .50 beowulf. I don't think we will completely abandon 5.56.

[Brave New World]

Originally Posted by ericsvibe

The M27 is basically a beefed up version of the M4 which converts the rifle into a piston gun, instead of a gas gun. This decreases the amount of heat transferred back to the receiver and gets rid of the problem of having combustion byproducts deposited back into the receiver. The rifle is functionally similar in every other way to the M4. The biggest advantage that the Marines wanted was to replace the M249. The M249 is a very expensive piece of gear, it's heavy, and it requires more maintenance than the M27. So the Marines basically are trading one rifle, the M27 for two.

The advantage of using 6.8mm ammo is it only requires an upper receiver and barrel change. It's very cost effective to upgrade your existing modular rifle stock. Which is another reason to get rid of the M249. It takes me minutes to swap out my .308 upper and barrel for my 6.5 Creedmore. I don't even have to take the optics off. My .308 has a 3x9 optic with 16 inch barrel, my 6.5 has a 9x16 optic with 24 inch barrel. One rifle, two different uses. This flexibility will allow the Military to tailor equipment for different missions, without the cost of having to purchase a bunch of different weapon systems. The standard AR15, AR10 variants can cover everything. Close quarters battle, use the 5.56 uppers. Fighting across open plains, use 6.8. Need one shot stopping power in urban areas, equip .50 beowulf. I don't think we will completely abandon 5.56.

The M27 and Next Generation Squad Weapon Program will both be excellent weapons, there is no doubt about that.

If you are correct and it just requires a barrel change to revert to other ammo then it shouldn't be a problem.

At the moment a British infantry section consists of eight soldiers who are normally organised into two four-soldier infantry fire teams. While equipment formations can be tailored as required by section and platoon commanders, infantry sections are usually issued with the following:

Six L85A2/A3 rifles, two of which are usually equipped with an L123A2/A3 underslung grenade launcher (UGL)

One L129A1 sharpshooter rifle - The L129A1 is a 7.62mmx51mm semi-automatic rifle designed to give an infantry squad the ability to engage targets with accurate fire out to 800 meters. The L129A1 is produced by US Company Lewis Machine and Tool Company (LMT).

One L7A2 general purpose machine gun (can be replaced by an additional L85A2/A3 rifle at commanding officer's discretion for a total of seven L85A2/A3 rifles)

L3A1 bayonet; one for each L85A2/A3 and L129A1 rifles in the section.

One L128A1 combat shotgun for use by the section point soldier (point position is subject to rotation between individual members of the section)

Two NLAW anti-tank weapons

L72A9 or L2A1 anti-structure munitions

L109A2 high explosive grenades

L132A1 smoke grenades and/or L84A3 red phosphorus smoke grenades

Special Forces can choose from a variety of non standard weapons, whilst Royal Marines now use the C-8 Carbine.

Britain is currently awaiting the US decision before deciding on it's replacement for the L85A2/A3 rifles.