The U.S. Army’s new technology for small arms weapons, an XM7 rifle, and XM250 automatic rifle, both chambered in a potent 6.8mm round, is a game changer. This is a giant leap forward for the Army in terms of increasing its combat power.
This week, 1st Brigade, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division soldiers began live-fire training with the new weapons here at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Soldiers say guns like the XM7, set to replace the gunfire mainstay, M4 carbine, and the XM250 squad automatic weapon, answer complaints that the current models lack features.
Col. Trevor Voelkel, commander of the 1st Brigade, said he was impressed with the new weapons, especially the ability of the 6.8mm round to penetrate the barriers. “Seeing the effects on the targets we had makes up for any concerns I had initially about the increased weight,” Voelkel said. The XM7 weighs 8.4 pounds unloaded, and the XM250 comes in at roughly 13 pounds, lighter than the M249.
A system designed by Vortex Optics XM157 fire control system- has gained equally high marks. The optic boasts an infrared aiming laser, bullet drop compensator, and a ballistics calculator that allows the shooter to calculate their offset based on distance and their ballistics profile. “There’s no fluff on the optic,” Colston said with every indication that all the features were packed in because they are useful features.
The 1st Brigade is expected to get its 1,500 XM7s and 200 XM250s fitted out with the new XM157 optics in September, ahead of its rotation to JRTC in March of 2025. At its LFTE next summer, the 1st Brigade hopefully will be able to get some sense of how the new weapons are working when an entire brigade is all outfitted with them in both live-fire and force-on-force conditions.
The Sig Sauer rifles and machine guns, coupled with the $2.7 billion contract with Sheltered Wings for the XM157 optics, amount to $7.4 billion for the Army. This genuinely is the most significant change ever brought to the field of the Army’s armament since implementing the M16 rifle in the 1960s. These two weapons, the XM7 and XM250, will add lethality to the already lethal range and accuracy of soldiers.
As the Army continues to field these next-generation weapons, the feedback will be key in refining and optimizing their performance from the 101st Airborne Division. The legacy M4 and M249 will remain in use for non-close combat forces, but the XM7 and XM250 are set to become the new standard for infantry, special operations, and other close combat units by fiscal year 2033.