Army Awards SIG NGSW Contract

[Double Naught Spy]

New sighting systems could well be the difference. As I understand the combat problem, much of it is actually finding and SEEING the enemy. If one can pick out an enemy among the rocks on a far mountainside or catch a little glimpse of someone hidden in the jungle, that would save a lot of rounds. However, I would think the downside, and veterans can better speak to this, is being exposed to enemy fire while peering deeply into jungle foliage using a magnified optic.

I read a very optimistic piece suggesting that the fancy, range and environmentals calculating automatic crosshair adjusting optics had the potential to make every soldier a "sniper" (in the sense of being an expert shooter). No doubt they could improve the average shooters ability to hit at distance, but what you say about the ability to actually find the target rings very true. Also, military tactics seem to have a strong basis in being the ones who put the most lead in the air, make the most noise possible to suppress the enemy. It has been a tried and true tactic for decades and I sincerely doubt that will change anytime soon.

In Afghanistan, it supposedly took an average of 250k small arms ammo fired for enemy killed. No doubt the number is somewhat lower for the number of enemy wounded, but that sort of paints a picture of how much firing is going on that isn't directed, well aimed fire.
https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=2003

When a group of US soldiers come under effective fire or in an ambush, it has not been a practice to stop, assess the threat, identify specific targets and make well aimed shots at those targets. No. Instead they tend to pour large amounts of ammo into the area or areas where the shots are believed to be coming from in hopes of causing a cessation of incoming fire. Then, if and when that doesn't work, they call in mortars, artillery, or air power.

Don't get me wrong. I think the new optics are a move in the right direction, but I am not thinking that a change in optics will being saving us very many 10s of thousands of rounds of ammo per enemy killed, at least not until we have a major change in applied tactics.