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USMC Small Arms Modernization Update

Thursday, May 10th, 2018

During NDIA’s Annual Armaments Meeting, Lt Col Christopher Woodburn (USMC, Ret), the Deputy, Maneuver Branch, Capabilities Development Directorate, discussed Marine Corps modernization efforts. He began by reiterating that Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen Robert Neller’s priority remains the Infantry regarding small arms.

U.S. Marines with 3rd Battalion 8th Marine Regiment fire the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle during a live-fire weapons exercise at range F-18 on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 2017. (Lance Cpl. Michaela R. Gregory/ Marine Corps)

Next, he mentioned the recent M27 contract and clarified that the M27 Infantry Automatics Rifle would be fielded to the entire Rifle Platoon from the Platoon Commander on down. Fielding will begin in FY18 and continue through FY20.

The M4s displaced by the M27 fielding will be used to replace remaining M16A4s in the Ground Combat Element.

Additionally, he explained that the M38 Designated Marksman Rifle variant of the M27 was a Squad element weapon and that the Squad leader would assign it to his best marksman. Marines have also begun receiving the Squad Range Finder to improve target acquisition and engagement.

Woodburn stated that the Marines continue to evaluate suppressors for use with the M27 and M4 as well as Medium Machine Guns.

Next year, the Marine Corps will begin fielding the M320A1 40mm Grenade Launcher as a replacement for the M203. It will be used in standalone mode only, and not mounted to the IAR.

The Marine Corps has also adopted the Mk 13 Mod 7, sniper rifle which has been used for many years by USSOCOM. The Marines consider it an interim capability until they can field the Advanced Sniper Rifle in 7.62mm, 300 and 348 Norma Mag in the early 20s. They will also begin to see the 84mm M3E1 Carl Gustaf. The Marines will leverage the seven different rounds SOCOM has developed for the recoilless rifle.

In other joint projects with SOCOM, the Marines continue their support of the 338 NM Lightweight Medium Machine Gun. They are also participating in the Army-led development of the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle.

Woodburn finished up by relating that the Marine Corps will begin fielding of the Modular Handgun System in FY19 to replace their legacy pistols.

Posted in USMC, weapons | 16 Comments »

USSOCOM Small Arms Modernization Update

Thursday, May 10th, 2018

Yesterday, LTC Mark Owens, USSOCOM’s PM for Ammo, Weapons and Visual Augmentation Systems, briefed SOF Small Arms modernization efforts at NDIA’s annual Armaments Conference. Unfortunately, he only had 10 minutes on the schedule to brief his programs. Consequently, like LTC Owens, I’m going to hit the wave tops and not go over everything on the slides.

The most significant thing he briefed was the Precision Intermediate Caliber Effort which resulted in the adoption of 6.5 Creedmoor, something we’ve covered several times. A lot of effort is being put into producing the Technical Data Package for that ammunition which tells industry how to produce it. He also mentioned that its adoption is cost neutral as it will cost about the same per round as the accurized 7.62 rounds they already procure. Although LTC Owens didn’t discuss it, 6.5 CM machine gun ammo (i.e. linked) is also under development in the event they decide to procure a lightweight assault machine gun in that caliber. One thing he cleared up is that SOCOM considers the 6.5 CM conversion for USASOC’s M110s as a SOF unique program and will pay for their rebarreling.

Additionally, LTC Owens explained the different Upper Receiver options available for the M4A1 Carbine, including the Suppressed Upper Reciever Group which is still in source selection, Personal Defense Weapon which is a .300 BLK Upper, and Upper Receiver enhancements (a similar item is commercially available from Geissele as the URG-I). He also briefly mentioned the Advanced Sniper Rifle, a recently released solicitation. He went in to clarify that development of the ammunition for the 338 Norma Mag Lightweight Medium Machine Gun had begun ahead of the weapon because reducing its weight is the bigger challenge and the weapon can’t be fully developed until the ammo is ready. He finished up this slide with mention of the enhancements for the GLOCK 19s in the command including suppressor, red dot optics and 9mm Speer Gold Dot G2 ammo.

This slide amplifies the ammunition issues already covered, but two other items are of particular interest. First, is the Scalable Offensive Hand Grenade which allows the user to select the charge. Second, is the 9 Bang Flashbang which fires nine times in rapid succession.

Finally, is the Visual Augmentation System update. As you can see, SOCOM is working to adopt a wide variety of new optics.

Posted in SOF, weapons | 9 Comments »

US Army Seeks Sub Compact Weapons

Wednesday, May 9th, 2018

Project Manager Soldier Weapons (PM SW), has issued an Request for Information (RFI) to obtain information and feedback from industry regarding Sub Compact Weapons (SCW), which they describe as full/semi-automatic selectable in 9×19 mm and with a MIL-STD 1913 rail (Picatinny Rail).

They are not only interested in a weapon, but also accessories including: magazines, cleaning kits, suppressors, specialized tool kit (if required), spare parts, slings, carrying cases, manuals.

PM SW wants industry’s feedback on:

1. Given the conditions above, how many proposals (SCW systems) would you consider submitting?

2. Given the possible submissions that the vendor may decide to submit please provide technical information for each sub compact weapon.

a) Will your sub compact weapon be ambidextrous?

b) What safety testing has been conducted on your sub compact weapon system?

c) What is the price of your sub compact weapon and do you provide economy of scale?

3. Where are your production facility location(s)?

4. Please elaborate on each of these areas:

a) Past repair/refurbishment experiences with other state or federal Government agencies

b) Technical manual development experience

5. What is your warranty coverage?

This RFI will help inform the formal requirement for SCW. Responses are due 18 May 2018. See www.fbo.gov for full details.

Posted in Contracts, weapons | 22 Comments »

Crane Issues Intent To Extend Sole Source 5 Year Contract For Combat Assault Rifle

Tuesday, May 8th, 2018

Late last month, Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, issued an intent to extend a sole source contract to FN Herstal, to procure the Combat Assault Rifle (CAR), engineering services and PIO Spares and data in accordance with the Performance Specification and the Statement of Work. Once known as the SOF Combat Assault Rifle, this Modular weapon system lost the SOF designator (at least funding-wise) a few years back. The program goes back 15 years, it known in Acquisition circles as CAR and is comprised of the Mk 16, Mk 17 and Mk 20 Sniper Support Rifle.

The contract currently in place runs out this month. An extension will keep the guns running which are already in service and offer the ability to buy more if the need arises. But most interestingly, this contract can be used to modify the Mk 20 SSRs used by Naval Special Warfare from 7.62 NATO to the newly adopted 6.5 Creedmoor round.

USSOCOM plans to convert their fleet of Sniper Support Rifles to 6.5 CM. For NSW, that means the Mk 20. With this contract, the process is pretty straight forward. They are weapons acquired under Major Force Program 11, USSOCOM’s procurement budget. The move to 6.5 CM is also a SOF requirement. However, Army SOF uses the M110, the US Army’s version of the Knights Armament Corp’s SR25 which also currently fires the 7.62 NATO cartridge. As the USASOC M110s are provided by the Army, but the move to 6.5 CM is a SOF unique requirement, there is question as to who will pay for the 6.5 CM conversion and what role the US Army might play in the conversion. It’s an Army rifle, but the caliber is a SOF requirement. A similar situation may face Marine Special Operations Command for their M110s which SOCOM recently modified to the K-1 configuration. Having said that, Knight’s, Geissele Automatics and CGS have all demonstrated complete 6.5 CM upper receiver groups compatible with the M110.

In other 6.5 CM news, word is that we should expect the Advanced Sniper Rifle to undergo an Engineering Change Proposal once a weapon is selected. Current requirements include 7.62 NATO along with 300 Norma Magnum and 338 NM. The 7.62 NATO requirement facilitates shorter training ranges and ensures the weapon is compatible with the Sniper Support Rifle. But with the SSRs converting to 6.5 CM, it doesn’t make any sense to have a 7.62 capability with ASR. Luckily, the conversion to 6.5 CM is simple.

Finally, an as-yet-unnamed federal agency has also committed to 6.5 CM for its rifles. We expect more to follow suit.

Tags: FN Herstal, Knights Armament Co
Posted in Ammo, Contracts, SOF, weapons | 11 Comments »

NRAAM 18 – B&T APC308

Monday, May 7th, 2018

We decided to wrap up our NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits coverage with a new offering from Switzerland’s B&T, the Advanced Police Carbine 308. The APC line already includes 9mm, .45, .223, 5.56mm and .300 versions, but the APC 308 model required some engineering to scale the design up.

Currently, they plan to introduce an Assault Rifle (Full Auto), Carbine (Semi Auto), Pistol (Semi Auto) and PDWs in both Semi and Full Auto. It features a locked rotating bolt, gas piston operating system. The barrel on the example we looked at was 14.5” with a pinned flash hider, designed to accept B&T suppressors. It has an overall length of 874 mm (611 mm with stock folded). The APC308 weighs 3.9 kg and has ambidextrous controls, including charging handle. The APC308 accepts SR25 pattern magazines.

There is a full length Mil STD 1913 rail down the top of the upper receiver and handguard as well as at the bottom of the handguard. Additionally, there are removable Picatinny rail sections for either side of the handguard. In addition to the side folder stock, B&T offers a collapsible stock as well as end cap. Here, you can see the buffer and spring.

An interesting feature on the bolt carrier is the insert seen at the side of the carrier in the photo below, which is found on the full auto variants of other APC models. For the APC308, it is standard and is used to slow the bolt carrier down.

They also use dual ejectors.

www.bt-ag.ch

Posted in NRA, weapons | 3 Comments »

NRAAM 18 – MagPump 9mm Luger Magazine Loader

Sunday, May 6th, 2018

For this year’s NRA Annual Meetings, MagPump is displaying the newest addition to their line of eponymous devices, the MagPump 9mm Luger Magazine Loader. Available in both polymer and an ELITE 6061-T6 aluminum model, the 9mm MagPump sports a 50-round hopper, and comes with six individual retainers, allowing users to reload various types of double-stack 9mm magazines, including those from Glock, Sig, and Smith & Wesson. The internal mechanism is designed to right the orientation of the rounds as they feed from the hopper into the magazine, and various built-in safeties prevent damaging the ammo during loading.

magpump.com

Tags: MagPump, NRAAM
Posted in NRA, weapons | Comments Off on NRAAM 18 – MagPump 9mm Luger Magazine Loader

NRAAM 18 – CZ-USA Scorpion Evo 3 S2 Micro Pistol

Sunday, May 6th, 2018

The Scorpion Evo 3 S2 Micro Pistol is a civilian-legal, semi-auto pistol version of the Evo III S2 Micro SMG, a specialized suppressed Evo variant designed for an undercover drug interdiction unit. The S2 Micro pistol comes with a 4″ barrel and an HB industries M-LOK handguard, as well as a Manticore Arms telescoping arm brace, designed in conjunction with SB Tactical. Like the original Evo 3, the S2 Pistol features CZ-USA’s low-profile iron sights, a top-mounted Picatinny rail, ambidextrous controls, and a swappable, ambi charging handle.

For those curious about the hardware on the muzzle, the S2 Micro comes with a faux suppressor manufactured by SilencerCo, cleverly dubbed the ‘NoOsprey’.

CZ-USA is also displaying a new 30-round polymer magazine for the Scorpion. It features a black polymer body with translucent panels on both sides to allow shooters to quickly gauge their round count. This magazine will be made available later in the year.

cz-usa.com

Tags: CZ-USA, NRAAM
Posted in NRA, weapons | 3 Comments »

NRAAM 18 – ACR Owners Recoice! Bushmaster Introduces 450 Bushmaster and 6.8 SPC Kits

Sunday, May 6th, 2018

It seems like Bushmaster has been promising alternative caliber kits for the “the most versatile and reliable MSR ever built,” the ACR.

Designed from the outset for a quick, operator-level caliber change, Bushmaster announced two new caliber options: 450 Bushmaster and 6.8 SPC which join the already existing 5.56 NATO. Wait what? You read gat right. 450 Bushmaster and 6.8 SPC.

Look for a new 10.5″ barrel in 5.56, 16″ & 18.5″ in 450 BM and 16″ in 6.8 SPC.

Tags: Bushmaster, NRAAM
Posted in NRA, Weapon Accessories, weapons | 22 Comments »