Beretta ARX / GLX 160
The Beretta ARX 160 is the new assault rifle being adopted the the Italians. I first mentioned it on in blog post last October and now thanks to REMOV I have the specs and some detailed photos (copyright Armi e Tiro/Beretta). According to REMOV the R&D cost 4 million euros, 70,000 man hours and 500,000 rounds of ammunition for testing!
Click to expand the photos.
GLX 160 grenade launcher attached.
The weapon has been designed to be modular and easy to maintain in the field. It has an upper/lower polymer receiver, much like the AR-15, a gas piston system and a rotating bolt. An interesting feature, for an assault rifle, is the ultra-quick change barrel system. Beretta claim barrels can be swapped in two seconds without tools by simply depressing two latches in the upper receiver! Quad Picatinny rails allow for accessories to be attached.
Ergonomics have been an important design goal in the development of this rifle. To this end the ejection and charging handle can be switched from one side to the other in no longer than a minute. All selector switches and buttons are fully ambidextrous and the folding stock is collapsible (four position).
The rifle will come three variants: the Special Forces (12″ barrel), Carbine (16″ barrel) and Designated Marksmen / light Sniper (16″ heavy barrel). This is the first time I have seen a designated marksmen rifle come standard with a 16″ barrel and is another step in the current trend towards shorter carbines and sub-carbines.
The standard rifle configurations are chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO and use STANAG (M16) magazines. By swapping the bolt head, lower receiver and barrel the rifle can be reconfigured to use 5.45×39mm, 7.62×39mm or 6.8mm SPC rounds.
12″ barrel (bottom and middle) and 16″ barrel (top)
The GLX 160 grenade launcher can be quickly attached to the ARX 160 or be used as a stand-alone weapon. In its most basic configuration is weighs less than 1 kg (2.2 lbs) and 2.2 kb (4.8 lbs) when fitted with a collapsible stock and grenade iron sights.
The GLFCS ( Grenade Launcher Fire Control System ) is a range finder / ballistics calculator for the GLX that attaches to the ARX 160 allowing for accurate fire.
Not much has been said about this rifle while the Bushmaster ACR and FN SCAR have been getting all the attention. I think the ARX / GLX 160 is an impressive package and I look forward to seeing how it performs in Italian service.
Credit for this blog post needs to go to REMOV who provided me with a lot of information. Thanks Remi.
The weapon had a good feeling in the booth at Eurosatory 2008. The design is as good for touching as for looking – a straight index finger is actually comfortable (very much unlike with SCAR iirc).
The barrel change and grenade subsystem handling are very quick.
Weight and front heaviness feel normal.
Sven, thanks for your comment.
If I were Magpul, I might be pretty torqued about this.
That said, can’t say as I much care for the looks of that thing.
I look forward to seeing it in scifi movies. That thing looks badass.
Seems pretty interesting, glad we got another in 6.8!
I think it looks kinda ugly for an Italian design. They usually have such cool looking heaters, this one is kinda ‘blah’.
I wonder how many lugs the bolt has? Fixed ejector or spring loaded? Is there a buffer system? Are the barrels chrome lined?
5.45×39 is an excellent idea, since it has the same sized rim as the 6.8 SPC and both of those cartridges are going to be popular with civilians, so it’s ready to sell in the US if they want to build it here. You think 16″ barrels were an accident?
So it has a polymer upper as well? Is this the evolution of the Beretta RX4 Storm, or an entirely new direction?
Any chance we’ll see a semi auto version here in the US?
Overload, I have heard nothing to indicate that they will produce a civilian version. On the other hand Beretta does produce civilian semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns so maybe they will.
I think it’s a really cool gun, but the rails on the fore end make it look unbalanced. Just looks like more style could have been put into the fore end to make it “morph” more into a more natural looking weapon.
A member of AR15 from the Italian Army posted information on the rifle. There are some interesting comments that was brought up. You guys might want to take a look.
IMO plastic are bad in military rifles.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=865517&page=1
The last picture reminds me of the M8.
Some info on this weapon, directly from Italy:
1: you swapped the changing times…. you can change barrel in no longer than a couple of minutes and can swap the ejection side in 2 seconds, it has a hidden switch you can activate with a bullet point for that.
2: The weapon is not mutuated from the px4-cx4 family, it is an entirely new weapon, enginereed specifically for the Italian army. It sports 10 international patents and for now a civilian version is not in their minds.
3: the main features of this rifle are:
The fact it works with no (or a very small quantity of) lubricant, thus making it really resistant in adverse environment
It will be available in 5,56 Nato, 7,62×39 and 6,8 SPC
The ejection swap switch, wich allows to shoot from angles with the camera provided in the “Soldato Futuro” system without being pummeled by hot cases
It has a great stability in auto shooting, it’s very accurate and his weight is lower than most of other assault rifles, while still having a 16″ heavy barrel.
I’ll take mine in Ferrari Red please
As an Italian I can say it’s one of the ugliest rifles I’ve seen in my life.
I think Beretta could do much better in design as this.