US Army will start switching to a machine gun and a new caliber rifle (video)

The 6. 8 x51 caliber is a more deadly cartridge that was designed specifically for M5 and Khm250. In 2023, the US Army will start switching to new light machine guns and assault rifles that will replace standard M249 and M4 rifles. About it reports Defense News. In the US, many years of tests and experiments of new basic small arms for the army will begin.

Within the framework of the Next Generation Squad Weapon, the machine gun will receive land forces, the Marine Corps and the US Special Operations forces. A special 6. 8x51 mm have developed for machine gun and rifles - this will be the biggest change in weapons. In 2021, Sig Sauer won a $ 4. 7 billion contract for the supply of KM250 and M5 Karabin's experimental machine gun. Rifle weapons will allow the fighters to shoot further, more precisely and faster.

And the enlarged cartridge caliber will be more deadly than the current 5. 56 mm cartridge. The publication suggests that the first units will receive XM250 and M5 in early 2023. And for a complete replacement of M4 and M249 will take several years. New weapons will receive parts of the melee: infantry, intelligence and combat engineers. Vortex Optics and Shelted Wings have to increase firing accuracy. They created a special optics for adjusting the sight.