In the comments section of my recent Brief Thoughts article regarding caseless ammunition, there was a discussion about whether the cookoff issues of caseless would also be problem for LSAT-style polymer cased telescoped ammunition. Based on conversations I have had [Read More…]
Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked [Read More…]
Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked [Read More…]
Not long after SHOT Show, I got the chance to interview Mrs. Kori Phillips, former program officer for the Army’s Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program, and current program officer for the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program. We talked [Read More…]
The National Defense Industry Association has released the PowerPoint presentations from 2016 Armament Systems Forum, including Kori Phillips’ update on the Cased Telescoped Small Arms Systems (CTSAS) program, which is the successor to the well-known Lightweight [Read More…]
The Joint Service Small Arms Program (JSSAP), which includes the program formerly called Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) has unveiled a new scaled-up 7.62mm machine gun that fires a larger variant of that program’s cylindrical plastic-cased 7.62mm [Read More…]
I was pleased to read that the the Department of Defense is continuing to invest R&D funds into the development of the light-weight LSAT Machine Gun program. Textron Systems will continue to refine the 5.56mm LSAT Light Machine Gun and its Cased Telescoped [Read More…]
Kit Up reports that the engineers at the Army’s Picatinny Arsenal will be testing eight LSAT Machine Guns and 50,000 rounds of the LSAT caseless ammunition. From Kit Up blog … The engineers at Picatinny are sending eight M249 SAW-like prototype machine guns [Read More…]
Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) light machine gun (LMG) and rifle project is coming along nicely. Tony Williams, sent me photos and project’s latest news. The LMG now weighs 9.21 lbs in plastic-cased-telescoped (CT) and 9.9 lbs in caseless (CL), [Read More…]
Welcome back to Wheelgun Wednesday, our weekly article series where we cover everything related to revolvers. Today’s topic is the technical challenge of effective sound suppression of revolvers. In Part 1 we looked at mechanically sealed revolvers, today [Read More…]
According to a number of sources, Textron may no longer be part of the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) program. If this is indeed the case this would mark a significant turning point in the NGSW program, with Textron’s entry being based on [Read More…]
Textron Systems, one of the three vendors in the running for the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program held a media panel earlier this week. The panel was lead by Wayne Prender, who is Textron’s Senior Vice President, Applied Technologies and [Read More…]
I have been competing in IPSC Rifle for about ten years now. I’ve had some success with some medals and places on the podium. For instance at both IPSC Rifle World Shoots in the manual action division, including a Gold Medal for the team win. The importance of a [Read More…]
This year’s SHOT Show was the first to have models representing all three of the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program prototypes. SIG Sauer had prototypes on display at their stand (which TFB got our first look at back in September at DSEI 2019) [Read More…]
The first photo of AAI/Textron’s Next Generation Squad Weapon prototypes has emerged. The NGSW-Rifle and NGSW-Automatic Rifle were photographed at Fort Benning, Georgia, during the Annual Maneuver Conference at the Fort’s Maneuver Centre. The 2019 Maneuver [Read More…]
Earlier this week Textron was one of three companies down-selected by the US Army for the Next Generation Squad Weapon program. TFB had the chance to have a brief chat with Wayne Prender Textron Systems’ Senior Vice President of Applied Technologies & Advanced [Read More…]
Textron have announced the delivery of their first Next Generation Squad Weapon prototype to the US Army, the first of five to be delivered. It should be noted that the prototype is in fulfillment of what is now being termed the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Technology [Read More…]
Composite munitions manufacturer True Velocity has announced their partnership with General Dynamics – Ordnance & Tactical Systems in working to win the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon system program. Back in July 2018, TFB reported that General [Read More…]
Confirming our report back in June that the US Army’s future Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program has identified five current contestants and awarded opportunity notice awards to facilitate prototype development. Back in June Miles reported that five [Read More…]
A confidential source has revealed to TFB the current contestants that have passed the most recent phase of the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle Competition (NGSAR). This phase is less of an actual competition between small arms prototypes but more of a theoretical [Read More…]
About a year ago, Professor Afsaneh Rabiei of North Carolina State University developed composite metal foam (CMF) armor plates. In a test conducted in 2017, the 1″ thick plate performed impressively against small arms bullets and managed to get NIJ Level IV [Read More…]
The US Army’s Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle (NGSAR) program is moving forward with a Prototype Opportunity Notice scheduled for publication later this week. The US Army Contracting Command has issued a draft Prototype Opportunity Notice (PON) for the [Read More…]
Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier’s new commanding officer Brigadier General Anthony Potts has gotten to grips with one of PEO Soldier’s most interesting projects, Textron’s Cased Telescoped Light Machine Gun. The Cased Telescoped Light Machine [Read More…]
“Novel Combustible Cartridge Cases for Next Generation Small Arms Ammunition” – this is precisely the title of a solicitation of the US Army published on the website of a US Government program called SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research). As [Read More…]
Fire the “Laser”!…via capacitive touch LaserMax has an entirely new line of lasers for subcompact handguns called “Gripsense”. Attached to the triggerguard, these light/laser combos (or in the case of the LCPII model, just a laser) have [Read More…]
It’s almost 3 in the morning, and I’m lying awake in bed thinking about small arms. I’m trying to put everything out of my mind so I can go to sleep and wake up in the morning, go to the range, and bring you some raw ballistic data. So of course what [Read More…]
Caseless: The ammunition designer’s holy grail, and the engineer’s worst nightmare. It would obsolete the cartridge case overnight, resulting in cheaper, lighter, and more compact ammunition. Weapons would be able to carry 50, 60, or more rounds in slim, [Read More…]
We have already seen the 6.5mm CT Carbine prototype brought out by Textron for the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, but TFB also got an up close and personal look at Textron’s cased telescoped machine guns. Textron has two different cased [Read More…]
At the 2017 Association of the US Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting, Textron System displayed for the very first time their firing 6.5mm CT Carbine prototype. Previously, only non-firing mockups had been shown to the public, but after successful tests this summer the real [Read More…]
FightLite is introducing a polymer cartridge case to the market with their newest offering. This particular case is unique because unlike hybrid polymer ammunition with a brass base, these rounds are entirely polymer, apart from the primer, powder, and bullet. Although [Read More…]
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