Army Awards SIG NGSW Contract

[lazyengineer]

Ran across a YouTube saying this program is in trouble. Anybody heard any independent, official confirmation?

Wouldn't surprise me. Imagine that - a complex multicomponent casing that runs at 80,0000 psi is having some hang-ups. From the same ARMY procurement department that did such a marvelous job with the original Sig 320 trials and procurement. And this Sig round has a force balance and the throat erosion behavior of a round like that, is asking a lot. What happens to an 80,000 psi cartridge when fouling builds up in the chamber and barrel? How broadly reliable is the gas system of a system that runs at that kind of pressure? How about on a really hot day or cold day? Or a warm round fired through a cold (contracted diameter) barrel... at 80,000 psi? Powder burn rate is a function of temperature and pressure. How much margin of error to spikes does something like that have?

Not saying it can't be done - but this was an ambitious project that is very much pushing the boundary's of physics, chemical reaction rate kinetics dynamics, and metallurgy. By decision makers and developers who I personally think push it.