#XM5

Ahead of this year’s SHOT Show SIG Sauer held an independent range day at the Clark County Shooting Complex putting on some impressive defense capability demonstration and showcasing their current range of firearms, optics and accessories.

On 19 April the US Army announced the selection of SIG Sauer’s entries into the Next Generation Squad Weapons program. Despite an official announcement and a media event to unveil the weapons to the press, details on weight, loadout and capabilities have been scarce.

On 19 April, the US Army  announced that SIG Sauer had won the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) competition with its 6.8mm hybrid ammunition, MCX Spear and LMG-6.8 selected to equip the US Army’s close combat forces. The Department of Defense held a Media Round Table  event at the Pentagon discussing the NGSW program and how the newly selected weapon systems will be produced, procured, integrated and fielded.

We, here at TFB, have been closely following the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program since it began back in 2018. Today, it has been announced that SIG Sauer have won the contract to provide both the NGSW-Rifle and NGSW-Automatic Rifle. An initial delivery order contract worth $20.4 million has been awarded. SIG’s MCX 6.8 Spear will be designated the XM5 Rifle and the LMG-6.8 belt-fed will be designated the XM250 – designations directly following on from the M4/M4A1 Carbine and M249 SAW which the new weapons will replace. SIG’s selection means that the US Army’s new 6.8mm round will be based on a hybrid metallic case, not the polymer-based design developed by True Velocity.