Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, have issued a synopsis/solicitation to negotiate a five year indefinite quantity contract with firm fixed price orders for a number of SIG Sauer weapon systems including rifles, submachine guns, pistols and suppressors. The [Read More…]
The US Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, posted a sources sought notice for a ‘Modular Combat Shotgun’ based upon the Remington 870 on 23 May. The Army Contracting Command shared the notice on behalf of the Armament Research, Development and Engineering [Read More…]
The concept of stacking projectiles on top of each other inside a self-contained cartridge dates back to the 19th century. It has subsequently been revisited dozens of times by arms designers from all over the world. In the 1950s the US Military experimented with duplex [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…]
At an AUSA breakfast conference yesterday, US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley gave us a hint at exactly what the US Army’s next rifle could look like, and the focus was on extended range capability. The rifle, Milley said, will give a 10x improvement in [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…]
Is the US Army pushing for a new high-powered 6.Xmm caliber with their new NGSAR program? Recently, the listing for the NGSAR industry day in December was updated with a document describing in part the agenda of the second conference. Scheduled for 9:45 in the morning [Read More…]
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…]
The US Army will be holding a second Industry Day for its Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program, which seeks to replace the M249 light machine gun with a new longer-ranged, lower signature automatic rifle. The Industry Day will be held at Picatinny Arsenal on [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…]
Working under contract from the Army’s Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM), AimLock, a subsidiary of Rocky Mountain Scientific Laboratory, developed an actively stabilized weapons chassis for AR-15 rifles. AimLock has been in the news before [Read More…]
At the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting (AUSA 2017), US Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) presented a concept for the US Army’s future soldier of the 2030 timeframe, which promised everything from powered [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…]
At the 2017 National Defense Industry Association’s annual Armament Systems Forum in April, representatives of the US Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) presented a new method for measuring and quantifying gas blowback with [Read More…]
Does pointing your gun up or down affect its accuracy? The answer is “maybe” according to a recent US Army Armament Development, Research and Engineering Center (ARDEC) presentation released at the 2017 National Defense Industry Association small arms [Read More…]
The US Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) is developing a new kind of .50 caliber ammunition called the All Purpose Tactical Cartridge, according to a presentation given at this years National Defense Industry Association small arms [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 scientist-warriors at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey are working to bring the hand grenade into the 21st Century. With the flip of a “switch”, U.S. soldiers will be able to decide whether to use fragmentation or concussive forces – all from [Read More…]
One of the blessings of being a writer with TFB is that we are able to collaborate and learn from one another. Its a heck of perk, as between the staff here there is an incredible wealth of knowledge that I learn from on a regular basis. On the flip side, occasionally [Read More…]
Apropos of Nathaniel F’s recent query: “How Can We Break The Small Arms Plateau“, an interesting development may be taking place alongside the new prospect of guided (DARPA’s EXACTO and Sandia’s self-guided bullet) small arms ammunition: [Read More…]
EOTech have developed a next-generation grenade sight at the request of the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC). SMGLee grabbed some exclusive shots of it. The reticle tracks up and down as the weapon is raised or lowered. How cool is that? I [Read More…]
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