SIG Sauer Electro-Optics have been awarded a major contract to provide the US Army’s new Direct View Optic (DVO) which will be used on the current M4A1 carbine, replacing the venerable ACOG . An award notice was posted on Sam.Gov at the end of last month with the [Read More…]
This week it was announced that LMT Defense had gained a contract from the United States Army for $17,031,520 firm fixed price for a new production run of the M203/M203A2 40MM Grenade launcher. The order is estimated to be complete by September of 2025. The full press [Read More…]
FN America have confirmed that the US Army has awarded them a contract to deliver an unspecified number of new M249 Squad Automatic Weapons. The contract is due to be fulfilled by 2025 with deliveries set to begin soon. The M249 has been in the US Army service for [Read More…]
The U.S. Army reports that for the first time an additively manufactured item has been qualified and provisioned for production. While not as cool as a suppressor or other 3D printed accessories, the humble M249 Sight Adjustment Tool is an important milestone. Moreover, [Read More…]
True Velocity have announced that they have supplied the US Army with 170,000 rounds of their polymer cased 6.8mm TVCM ammunition. The delivery was made in May in support of the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon first phase of prototype testing. From our [Read More…]
Minnesota-based Federal Ammunition have announced a further delivery of 5.56x45mm MK311 Mod 3 frangible training ammunition to the US Army. The contract is worth $13.8 million and is part of an earlier contract awarded in 2017. The contract Federal are referring to is [Read More…]
It has been 11 months since the US Army awarded three OTA contracts as part of its Next Generation Squad Weapon program. Despite the uncertainty around the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the program remains on track and set to begin its next major phase. TFB had the [Read More…]
The U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command plays an important role in guiding the future of our warfighters’ lethality and survivability. Their mission statement is “To provide the research, engineering, and analytical expertise to deliver [Read More…]
Engineers at the US Army’s CCDC Army Research Laboratory, an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, part of the Army Futures Command, have developed a special rifle suppressor with an integrated muzzle brake, which they are calling the [Read More…]
“The M4A1 Carbine is a lightweight, 5.56 millimeter, magazine fed, gas operated, air cooled, shoulder fired weapon.” For many years, US Army Infantrymen have had this phrase, or a slight variation of it, drilled into their heads until they could recite it [Read More…]
The US Army has announced the selection of a raft of anti-drone systems to combat the threat of small drones which are proliferating on battlefields around the world. The new Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft System (C-sUAS) capabilities range from fixed systems to [Read More…]
Today’s Photo of the Day sees US troops stationed in Poland get to grips with some British small arms. Men from two cavalry regiments – one British, one American, took part in a familiarisation exercise at Bemowo Piskie, in Poland, on 30th April 2020. The [Read More…]
The US Army is forging ahead with the evaluation of the prototype Next Generation Squad Weapon rifles and automatic rifles and it has been confirmed that U.S. Special Operations Command is both involved in the program and watching its developments closely. SOCOM has [Read More…]
The US Army has begun fielding their new M110A1 Squad Designated Marksman Rifle or SDMR. The latest familiarisation initiative began at Fort Stewart, Georgia, earlier this month. Soldiers from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (the Raiders) [Read More…]
With the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons program pushing ahead, despite the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic, the three companies involved have shipped their prototype weapons. SIG Sauer commemorated the dispatch of their NGSW-Rifles and NGSW-Automatic Rifles [Read More…]
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory (CCDC ARL), has developed a novel type of polymer filament. This is said to be capable of offering the performance of injection molded ABS on components printed with low-cost extrusion [Read More…]
Heckler & Koch USA has delivered the first shipments of the M110A1 Squad Designated Marksman Rifles (SDMR) to the US Army. The rifle is actually made in H&K’s factory in Germany and then shipped to H&K USA where the system is completed with optics, [Read More…]
With the recent release of the US Army’s FY2020 Budget Justification Books, we’ve seen some more exciting developments like procurement projection figures for the Next Generation Squad Weapon and the desire to replace the M2010 sniper rifle with [Read More…]
From the Department of Defense’s budget justification books for the fiscal year 2021 we get an idea of the procurement scale and timescale for the winning entry/entries to the Next Generation Squad Weapon program. We also get an idea of how many Next Generation [Read More…]
The US Army is moving to supplement and superseded the M993 Armour Piercing round and M80A1 Enhanced Performance Round, introduced back in 2016, with the new 7.62x51mm XM1158 Advanced Armor Piercing Round. In October 2019, the Army authorised the urgent materiel release [Read More…]
The US Army is in the market for more 7.62x51mm M134 ‘Miniguns’. A Request for Information (or RFI) was posted on the US Government’s new SAM procurement website on 30th January, 2020. The sources sought notice covers not just the M134 weapon system [Read More…]
Surplus M17 pistols? Already? You’re probably thinking ‘but they’ve only just adopted the Modular Handgun System.’ You’re right but the reason these M17s are now available as surplus is because the US Army has decided to transition away [Read More…]
Last month during the US India Yudh Abhyas 19 training exercise Indian Army snipers had an opportunity to get acquainted with the US Army’s M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle. The exercise took place at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, in Washington State, aiming [Read More…]
The US Army, US Marine Corps and British Army are collaborating on developing new lightweight small arms ammunition. In recent years there has been an increasing interest in hybrid ammunition, especially those using polymer case components. Todd Townsend, supervisor of [Read More…]
Last month Maxim Defense was sponsored by the U.S. Army’s MCoE “Maneuver Center of Excellence” to be part of the AEWE (Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment). The Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE) sponsors U.S. based Maxim Defense to be part of the [Read More…]
Olin Winchester have been awarded the contract to run the US Army’s premier ammunition manufacturing plant. Lake City Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri has produced small arms ammunition since the beginning of World War Two. The plant was established and [Read More…]
The roll out of the US Army’s new Modular Handgun System continues, with the U.S. Army’s Pacific Command tweeting on 16 September, that soldiers stationed in Alaska and members of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Div (or Spartan Brigade) [Read More…]
TFB have been closely following developments in the US Army’s Next Generation Small Arms Program and it has been a while since we heard any major developments. On the evening of the 29th August, however, the Army Contracting Command posted an award notice for the [Read More…]
The US Army has announced that two companies have been selected to produce mounted machine gun optic mounts, with the companies competing for the various orders within a $48,800,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the optics. Back in July 2018, TFB reported that the [Read More…]
North Carolina-based High Speed Gear have confirmed that they have been contracted to provide Heckler & Koch with more than 30,000 of their TACO magazine pouches as part of Heckler & Koch’s fulfilment of the Army squad designated marksman rifle contract. [Read More…]