The 75th Ranger Regiment, Green Berets, and other ground forces from U.S. special operations will be equipped with conventional Army Next-Generation Squad Weapons in what could be the biggest modernization of firepower for America’s elite warriors. This comes in 2022, a clear departure from when special operation units distanced themselves from conventional Army weapons programs years ago.
“We are an enthusiastic supporter of the Army’s 6.8mm Next Generation Squad Weapons,” Col. Joel Babbitt, of Program Executive Officer Special Operations Forces Warrior, told Military.com. “We expect there will be Next Generation Squad Weapons in our formations as soon as we can receive them via fielding.”
The Army is testing final prototypes of the NGSW from the three defense giants that have made it this far: General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc., Textron Systems, and Sig Sauer Inc. Next-generation weapons chambered for the more powerful 6.8 millimeter caliber will eventually replace the 5.56 millimeter M4A1 carbine and the M249 squad automatic weapon in infantry and close-combat units.
The Army modernization leaders will also review that process, and if all goes well, a single company’s final design for the rifle and automatic rifle variants is set to take place in early 2022. Fielding would begin a year later.
This, working to the NGSW potential, is working closely enough with the Army to secure a place in that fielding plan, which is expected to happen in the next five-year defense plan. “Our operators have been in from the beginning on the soldier touch points, and we have been working very closely with Program Executive Office Soldier all along,” Babbitt said. “Our operators are providing feedback to help make the weapons better.”
The NGSW automatic rifle variant has been so promising that PEO SOF Warrior might not have to pursue a separate lightweight 6.5mm Creedmoor machine gun effort after all. “We have right now put our 6.5mm Creedmoor lightweight machine gun on hold pending the outcome of the Next Generation Squad Weapon,” Babbitt revealed.
That sort of bullish embrace of the NGSW by special operations forces stands in marked contrast to their historical skepticism of several conventional Army weapons programs. Elements of the elite 75th Ranger Regiment famously opted not to carry the XM25 Counter-Defilade Target Engagement System, aka the “Punisher”, during an operational assessment in Afghanistan because it was too heavy and had too few rounds of ammunition.
The NGSW automatic rifle variant has been so promising that PEO SOF Warrior might not have to pursue a separate lightweight 6.5mm Creedmoor machine gun effort after all. “We have right now put our 6.5mm Creedmoor lightweight machine gun on hold pending the outcome of the Next Generation Squad Weapon,” Babbitt revealed.