The XM5 is the U.S. Army variant of the

SIG MCX Spear The SIG MCX-SPEAR is a multi-caliber rifle developed by the American division of SIG Sauer from the SIG MCX series of carbines. The SIG MCX-SPEAR is primarily chambered in .277 SIG FURY and can be adapted to 7.62×51mm NATO and 6.5mm Creedmoor wit ...

, a 6.8×51mm (.277 in),

gas-operated Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech, autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to dispose of the spent ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

-fed, assault rifle designed by

SIG Sauer Several brother companies that design and manufacture firearms use the brand name SIG Sauer . The original company, ''Schweizerische Waggon-Fabrik'' (SWF), later ''Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft'' (SIG), went through several selloffs, ...

for the

Next Generation Squad Weapon Program The Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) program is a United States military program created in 2017 to replace the 5.56mm M4 carbine and M249 SAW light machine gun and the 7.62mm M240 machine gun, with a common system of 6.8mm cartridges; and t ...

in 2022 to replace the

M4 carbine The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO, gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively ...

. The XM5 features a free-floating reinforced

M-LOK M-LOK, for Modular Lock, is a firearm rail interface system developed and patented by Magpul Industries. The license is free-of-charge, but subject to an approval process. M-LOK allows for direct accessory attachment onto the "negative s ...

handguard for direct accessory attachment onto the "negative space" (hollow slot) mounting points.

History

In January 2019, the United States military began the

to find replacements for the

and

M249 light machine gun The M249 light machine gun (LMG), also known as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), which continues to be the manufacturer's designation, and formally written as Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is the American adaptation of the Belgian F ...

. In September 2019, SIG Sauer submitted its designs. The XM5 is designed to fire the 6.8×51mm (.277 in) SIG Fury cartridge in response to concerns that improvements in

body armor Body armor, also known as body armour, personal armor or armour, or a suit or coat of armor, is protective clothing designed to absorb or deflect physical attacks. Historically used to protect military personnel, today it is also used by variou ...

would diminish the effectiveness of common battlefield rounds such as the

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, but often pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, L110, and ...

(used in the M4 and M249) and

7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first been introduced in U.S. service fo ...

. '' Army Times'' describes this as an "intermediate caliber 6.8mm cartridge". The ballistics of the

.277 Fury The .277 Fury or 6.8×51mm Common Cartridge, (designated as the .277 SIG Fury by the SAAMI) is a centerfire rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge announced by SIG Sauer in late 2019. Its hybrid three-piece cartridge case has a steel case head an ...

indicate that it is likely a

fully powered cartridge A fully powered cartridge, also called full-power cartridge or full-size cartridge, is an umbrella term describing any rifle cartridge with a caliber greater than , a maximum effective range of at least , and intended for engaging targets (lar ...

as it has higher chamber pressure, velocity and energy on target than 7.62×51 mm NATO. On 19 April 2022, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

awarded a 10-year contract to SIG Sauer to produce the XM5 rifle, along with the

XM250 The XM250 is the US military designation for the SIG-LMG a 6.8×51mm, gas-operated, belt-fed, light machine gun designed by SIG Sauer for the U.S. Army's Next Generation Squad Weapon Program in 2022 to replace the M249 light machine gun. The X ...

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sam ...

, to replace the M4 and M249, respectively; these model numbers are the next numbers sequentially to the weapons they are to replace. The first batch of 25 XM5s and 15 XM250s are planned to be delivered in late 2023. The Army plans to procure a total of 107,000 rifles and 13,000 automatic rifles for close combat forces including infantrymen, cavalry scouts, combat engineers, forward observers and combat medics; there are no plans initially to issue the weapons to non-combat soldiers. The contract has the capacity to build additional weapons should the

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through comb ...

and

U.S. Special Operations Command The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Arm ...

choose to be included. The XM5 weighs , or with a suppressor, and has a basic combat load of 140 rounds in seven 20-round magazines weighing . Compared to the M4A1 weighing unsuppressed with a basic combat load of 210 rounds in seven 30-round magazines weighing , the XM5 weighs about more and a rifleman carries roughly a heavier load with 70 fewer rounds. Operational testing of the XM5 rifle, XM250 automatic rifle, XM157 Fire Control Optic platform agnostic unit and the 6.8×51mm ammunition squad weaponry is to begin in 2024 and does not guarantee actual widespread future issue.

References

External links

{{SIG Sauer Rifles Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2019 6.8mm firearms Assault rifles of the United States SIG Sauer rifles

History

See also

References

External links