It looks like it is definite that in the future U.S. Army soldiers will be firing a larger round. This has been a concern for the officials that the 5.56mm round, which is the standard round for the U.S. Army and NATO allies, is inadequate to penetrate body armour of potential enemies.

The U.S. Army has already been testing the 6.8mm rounds for the possible replacement of M249 and M4 rifles and they have chosen 5 companies to develop prototype weapons for the round.

You might wonder why not go for the 7.62mm round if they want to a larger round to penetrate body armour? While it is indeed the 7.62 is heavier round, the issue with the round is the amount of recoil it generates when fired that it is hard for a rifle to be accurate on full auto as compared to the 5.56 that it is seen that the 6.88mm is a compromise between the two.

As I have written here before, the contracts for developing prototypes for the new round have been awarded to AI/Textron Systems, FN America, General Dynamics, PCP Tactical, and Sig Sauer. Textron Systems has been developing the Cased-Telescoped (CT) Weapons & Ammunition that is seen to be able to help lower the weight of the NGSAR as based on the requirements of the U.S. Army.

There will be two Next Gen weapon prototypes to be expected from the companies according to Popular Mechanics: the Next Generation Squad Weapon will replace the M4A1 carbine, while the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. But FN America may be allowed to present two variants and all companies are expected to submit their prototypes by July 2019.

Army Pvt. Michael Rojas fires an M249 light machine gun during in Djibouti, 2 May 2017
(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Nicholas M. Byers/Source: Defense.gov)

As specified in the DRAFT Prototype Opportunity Notice (PON) for Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW), both the NGSW and the NGSAR will share the same 6.8mm round just like how the M4 and the M249 shared the 5.56mm round:

The DRAFT NGSW PON details how the Government intends to award up to three prototype Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs) under Section 815 OTA authority, pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 2371b, with each Offeror developing two weapon variants and a common cartridge for both weapons, utilizing Government provided 6.8 millimeter projectiles. The weapons include the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle (NGSW-R) and the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Automatic Rifle (NGSW-AR). The NGSW-R is the planned replacement for the M4/M4A1 Carbine and the NGSW-AR is the planned replacement for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) in the Automatic Rifleman Role in Brigade Combat Teams (BCT). The period of performance for each prototype OTA is estimated to be up to 27 months. Following successful completion of this OTA, the Government intends to award a follow-on production contract. The follow-on production contract is anticipated to be a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) based contract without further competition but the Government reserves the right to award a follow-on production OTA without further competition.

The selection of the 6.8mm round will have implications for the other branches and the U.S. military and close allies especially those belonging to NATO. Most if not all, are invested in the 5.56mm round and some are just transitioning to new weapons platforms such as the M27 IAR for the Marines or the HK416F for the French Army which are both based on the HK416 which uses the 5.56mm. When these new generation weapons get introduced they will cause interoperability issues with allies they not exactly standard equipment unless they all agree to move to 6.8mm and that will entail a lot of money to re-equip their armies.

Top photo: U.S. soldiers in Sabre Junction 18 in Germany (U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Gabrielle Weaver)