"U.S. Army Is Officially Ditching The M4 Rifle" Topic

Subject: U.S. Army Is Officially Ditching The M4 Rifle For Something Much More Powerful | The Daily Wire


link

Anyone know what an EMS weapon does to these?

Getting rid of all the M4s is going to cost a whole bunch. But I'm all for giving our troops the best available. But in many cases funds are benchmarked for other less important projects, etc., IMO.

E.g. the "climate crisis" is not a military priority.

The Fire Control System sounds neat. Wonder what powers it--more batteries for soldiers to carry. Integral suppressor is cool.

I see a wee problem here…

The new NGSW rifles will fire a new 6.8x51mm cartridge that are more accurate and are more lethal against emerging threats than both the 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm ammunition.

First, I'm not sure what the "emerging threats" are -- widespread use of ballistic body armor? Battlefield robots?? Is this "more lethal" round really needed for this or just because, new and cool?

Second, by switching away from NATO standard 5.56mm and 7.62mm this undermines the very idea of cross compatible logistics. In a crisis with constraints on resupplies, US troops would be just SOL when the get low on ammo since they couldn't use ammo from NATO allies. Their "more accurate and more lethal" rifles become clubs…

SBminis, expect to see the new round aggressively marketed to NATO members to be the new standard.

Emerging threats is just marketing speak for "we've spent the last 20 years suffering long range fire from Taliban soliders with 7.62 AK47s that most of our guys couldn't reply to." The cost of anti-tank missiles used against riflemen who were outside the range of the 5.56 likely exceeds the cost for the new rifle.

Robert

First, I'm not sure what the "emerging threats"

Well the only emerging threat may be ETs ? Otherwise all the usual suspects – PRC, Putin, Iran, Un, islamic terrorists/jihadis … Did I miss any ?

As an after thought … we could include illegal aliens crossing our Southern Border. However, to shoot them is a crime. If they are not armed/pose a threat, of course.

I'm not sure what the "emerging threats" are

The SIG .277 Fury round was developed in response to concerns that improvements in body armor would diminish the effectiveness of the 5.56×45mm NATO round. Additionally, the new round would increase the lethality and effective range compared to common battlefield rounds such as the 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×51mm NATO

"Emerging threat" = "not enough sales"

be critical to the U.S. Army's ability to outgun emerging near-peer competitors like China.

So we're going to be shooting rifles at Chinese troops? Thought the USN/USMC still had to figure out how to get there.

This is good to see.

It is way past time for the US Army troops to get a new, much better weapon.

Will they release the old ones for private sale eventually, like they used to? Or has that been banned?

This has been in testing for over a year under the title Next Generation Squad Weapon. As noted, new body armor is reducing the lethality of the 5.56 round. You can find a lot of Youtube videos for the three different competitors that took part in the evaluation testing.

As for civilian sales of the M4 and M16 that is not going to be likely as they are fully automatic weapons. Most likely they will be sent to military units of other countries.

I suspect that the US will push for universal adoption of the 6.8 like they did to replace the 7.62 with the 5.56.

"Emerging threat" = "not enough sales"

Bottom line … the US troops should get the best weapon to do the job.

So we're going to be shooting rifles at Chinese troops? Thought the USN/USMC still had to figure out how to get there.

We could be ? Let's not make a mistake of the past and wait until the shooting starts, e.g. WWI & WWII. The USN/USMC(-), the USAF and the US Army knows how to get there and where. But it is highly unlikely the US will ever invade the PRC. However, the PRC is building ships and have many places to land them. Again, the PRC, Iran, Un, maybe even islamic terrorists/jihadis, are the emerging threat. Even Russia to a point, but after the Ukraine they may be licking their wounds for quite sometime.

I was hoping they would do it with the stipulation that they were converted to Semi Automatic. But maybe that is coast Prohibitive.

"As for civilian sales of the M4 and M16 that is not going to be likely as they are fully automatic weapons."

That is an easy parts switch out to fix into semi-auto.
or better still:
Repeal the NFA law and let people buy them.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Mike, here's hoping. 🙂

I doubt they will be released for civilian sale, especially given the current regime in charge.

You are probably right Thresher.