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.

True Velocity and General Dynamics’ 6.8mm polymer hybrid round (True Velocity)

From our recent interview with Lt. Col. Jason Bohannon, Product Manager – Next Generation Weapons, we learnt that the US Army’s Lake City Ammunition Plant has already produced “almost a million projectiles” which have been provided to the three vendors whose weapons are being evaluated. Their ammunition partners have then used those 6.8mm GP projectiles to manufacture ammunition which meets the Army’s requirements.

True Velocity are the ammunition partner to General Dynamics‘ submission, which has entered the RM277 bullpup rifle. GD are also partnered with Beretta Defense for the program.

The NGSW-R & NGSW-AR entry from General Dynamics (GD-OTS)

Here’s what the company had to say about the delivery of the Next Gen ammunition:

GARLAND, TX – True Velocity officials confirmed recently that the Texas-based technology company delivered more than 170,000 rounds of its 6.8mm TVCM lightweight ammunition to the U.S. Army in May as part of the Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) program.

“As a team, True Velocity is excited and proud to have delivered this significant order of next-generation ammunition to the Army in-full and on-time,” said True Velocity President Chris Tedford. “Our 6.8 TVCM composite-cased cartridge is capable of unprecedented ballistic performance, while simultaneously exceeding the Army’s expectations in terms of weight reduction.”

The U.S. Army down-selected True Velocity’s composite-cased ammunition in August 2019 for the NGSW modernization program. True Velocity submitted its 6.8mm composite-cased cartridge as part of an overall NGSW weapon system in partnership with General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems and firearm manufacturer Beretta.

True Velocity’s proprietary composite 6.8mm case design provides end users with significant logistical and operational advantages over metal-hybrid cases and traditional brass cases, including substantially increased effective range and muzzle energy, drastic reduction in cartridge weight and enhanced accuracy, regardless of weapon platform.

“True Velocity’s ammunition – and particularly our 6.8 TVCM cartridge – are changing the paradigm,” Tedford said. “It turns out you don’t have to operate at unsafe chamber pressures in order to generate increased velocity, enhanced terminal performance and improved accuracy. Our cartridge achieves all of these things, while maintaining safe operating pressures and drastically reducing the overall cartridge weight.”

The NGSW program is designed to provide the U.S. Army’s Close Combat Force with an enhanced 6.8mm cartridge replacement for the currently fielded 5.56x45mm round, as well as to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and the M4A1 with next-generation weapons.