US Army Set To Procure 30,000 Next Generation Squad Weapons in 2023
The US Army is yet to officially announce the winner(s) of the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) program but we know how many weapons they’ll be ordering between October 2022 and September 2023. The US Army’s weapon system program acquisition costs for the 2023 fiscal year show that the US Army is seeking to initially procure 29,046 weapons during the period.
NGSW @ TFB:
The planned procurement covers not just the NGSW-Automatic Rifle and NGSW-Rifle but also the fire control unit. While the weapon system competition is now between entries from SIG Sauer and Textron/Lonestar Future Weapons, the winner of the NGSW-FC was announced back in January, with Vortex’s entry announced as the winner and designated the XM157 NGSW-FC. The 10-year fixed-price contract is worth a minimum of $20 million but with a “maximum ceiling value of $2.7 billion for production and delivery of up to 250,000 XM157” optics. The new figures suggest that just short of 12,000 XM157s will be procured in FY 2023.
The US Army Program Acquisition Costs FY2023 handout notes that FY2023 sees the start of:
funding for the procurement and fielding of 1,704 NGSW-AR, which is the planned replacement for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) within the Close Combat Force; Procurement and fielding of 15,348 NGSW-R which is the planned replacement for the M4A1 Carbine within the Close Combat Force.
Additional FY2023 budget documents note that the total cost of NGSW weapon system procurements will be $221,293,000. This is more or less in line with the projected budget for the program which we reported back in March 2020. The Department of Defense’s budget justification books for the fiscal year 2021 suggested that 29,888 weapons would be procured in FY 2023 (at a cost of $216.4 million), 46,129 in FY 2024 (at a cost of $336 million) and 54,056 in FY 2025 (at a procurement cost of $383.9 million).
The databook for Procurement Programs Reserve Components also lists an expenditure of $96,713,000 under the line item ‘Next Generation Squad Weapon National Guard’ but no quantity or details are given. We know from previous budget justification books that the US Army National Guard was projected to receive 3,978 weapons in FY 2023. In addition to the weapon procurement costs, $128.7 million will be spent on the procurement of ammunition for the NGSW systems.
Managing Editor: TheFirearmBlog.com & Overt Defense.com. Matt is a British historian specialising in small arms development and military history. He has written several books and for a variety of publications in both the US and UK. Matt is also runs The Armourer's Bench, a video series on historically significant small arms. Here on TFB he covers product and current military small arms news. Reach Matt at: matt@thefirearmblog.com
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I understand the hesitation of people with this program. Its a pretty big change, potentially not just in what our troops use, but how they operate. Something that is so different from the M4 is likely to lead to doctrinal shifts. We can argue whether they will work or not, but the truth is none of us (or the planners) really know. The best we can do is to prepare for a wide assortment of outcomes.
In reference to that, I think it might be a good idea to start a second M4 replacement research program, but instead of focusing on long range engagement, focus on things like lethality in shorter range engagements, volume of fire on target, and cost effectiveness, thus acting as a cheap hedge on the failure of the NGSW.
There are so many interesting cartridges out there that tried to improve upon the 5.56X45, but none were developed with the new ammunition technology brought forward in the NGSW program. Could we take some of that knowledge that developed all the great alternatives people have been mentioning here and combine that with the new technology to give us something that is easy to shoot, easy to carry, and can be used with just a new upper for all the rifles we already have?
Textron is effectively out of the comp I understand from Textron sources. Poor reliability stemming from a very modern caseless ammo design that still a work in progress,