say goodbye to XM8 for now
OICW-1 Canceled, Door Closes on XM-8 For Now
2. US cancel
Objective Individual Combat Weapon, Increment One, Family of
Weapons
Original Solicitation No.
W15QKN-05-R-0449
The U.S. Army ARDEC, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ 07806-5000, on behalf of
the Program Manager for Soldier Weapons (PM-SW), has a requirement
for a non developmental family of weapons that are capable of
firing U.S. standard M855 and M856 ammunition.
The family consists of a Carbine, Special Compact (SC), Designated
Marksman (DM), and Light Machine Gun (LMG) weapon systems.
This endeavor will be conducted in three phases consisting of a
System Design and Development (SDD) Phase, a Low Rate Initial
Production (LRIP) Phase and a Full Rate Production (FRP) Phase
The purpose of this Amendment is to CANCEL Solicitation
W15QKN-05-R-0449, OICW Increment One.
This action has been taken in order for the Army to reevaluate its
priorites for small caliber weapons, and to incorporate emerging
requirements identified during Operation Enduring Freedom and
Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Government will also incorporate
studies looking into current capability gaps during said
reevaluation.
This isn't unexpected, given the backsliding over the past year
or so after it appeared that the XM8 might be on fast track. If the
"said reevaluation" includes a long hard look at the 5.56, this
will probably all be worth it.
Looks like the Marines and SOCOM, who adopted the M16A4 and the
FN-SCAR (respectively) despite initial interest in the XM8, made
good calls.
MO will hopefully have more on this soon.
01 nov 2005 http://www.murdoconline.net/
more back
ground
3.Do you think US is wise to keep the M16?What are the
implications of this cancellation?
4.Lucky we have SAR 21
Rifle and going to have
Squad
Support Weapon (SSW)
more on SSW
