What does this new caliber look like?
Key point: Warfare is a constant battle between better and better armor and bullets. In this case, America is looking to regain the upper-hand once again.
The Army is developing a more powerful bullet that’ll penetrate body armor capable of stopping 5.56 mm rounds, the Army’s Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told senators on Thursday.
“The 5.56 round, we recognize there is a type of body armor it does not penetrate, and adversarial states are selling that stuff on the Internet for about 250 bucks,” Milley explained during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, adding, “We think we have a solution … We know we have developed a bullet that can penetrate these new plates.”
The Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, is testing different caliber rounds, which range between the 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm rounds used by U.S. troops, according to Army Times. Milley stressed that the focus is on increased lethality for the bullet, not on a new rifle. When asked if the higher-caliber round would require a new rifle, Milley responded that “it might, but probably not,” though he went on to say that there are off-the-shelf rifle options for the service.
With more than 70 percent of U.S. casualties coming from ground combat troops—mostly within the infantry and special operations forces—new body armor, along with a new weapon system, and a higher caliber round are...
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7 comments:
But what's it going to be?
There's a lot of talk about the 6.5, are we going to change the SAW too?
Or will we have the 6.5 for Riflemen, the 5.56 for squad automatic Riflemen, and 7.62 for general purpose machine guns?
Will we finally come to our senses, and standardize with the 7.62 x 51?
Or will we continue to clog our supply chain with multiple cartridges?
The 7.62 (M-14) was a pee bringer, but you couldn't control them on auto. This ought to be interesting. Harder jackets?
Full auto is very hard to control in any rifle. Even in the 249 SAW. the light Contour barrel whipped vertically. Stringing shots opposite of a advancing line of a attacking force.
Save full auto to belt-fed weapons. But give our troops a lethal round, not a "humane" round.
Is it cheaper to re-barrel existing rifles or develop new systems?
The AK platform has served the enemy well for decades, the Paki tribes make thier own AKs from scraps...
Imo lethal is humane.
Anything with a case head diameter more than a little larger than the. 223 will pretty much require a whole new rifle.
these 6mm aregood, but if the idea is just to save a few bucks...
Somehow I have a hard time telling the young squad leader, who's in my old company that he's got to deal with a slap together solution. Versus we buying him and his men what he needs.
As far as the AK is concerned, the AR is a better platform. The AR is a tack driver out of the box at 600 yds.. 223, 6mm,(and variants) and. 308.
If kept dry, they don't jam in dusty environments.
Unfortunately, too many think you need to keep them dripping in lube.
Run 'em bone dry, and you won't have a problem.
Earlier this year the Army selected 5 companies to develop new weapon systems based on a 6.8mm bullet. The Army provided the companies with the bullet, but not the cartridge or the weapon system. The companies are to develop their system around the bullet. One system is a telescoped cartridge, one has a polymer case, and another has a hybrid case. The bullet itself is the only commonality in all of them.
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