An Army outgunned, early article pushing the Grendel

[LRRPF52]

What is the cartridge that has eventually been selected to develop? I remember seeing a 6.8mm something with a steel reinforced case. That kinda struck me as counter efficient in terms of the whole supply chain, but I am not well informed. Came across the 6.8 (Remington) SPC now, which looks ideal.

They launched all kinds of programs over the years looking for an AR-15/5.56 replacement. The most recent one is the NGSW 6.8x51, which is basically a hot-rodded .270-08 with a steel head, brass case body, and chamber pressures of 80,000psi or higher, pushing a 135gr Armor Penetrator at 2900fps from a 13” barrel folding stock AR-10 carbine with suppressor.







6.8x43 SPC and 6.8x51 have about as much in common as a .30-30 Winchester does with a .300 Win Mag.

The NGSW is again Army institutional failure to recognize the lessons learned from about 140 years of metallic cartridge technology in military rifles, expeditionary campaigns, terminal ballistics studies, soldier’s load studies, and MTO&E configurations spanning every conflict over the same time period.

It makes an amazing Sniper and Medium Machinegun Cartridge if you’re ok with humping the same profile and relative weight of the 7.62 NATO, which we should have gotten away from.

It is a terrible proposition for 75-90% of the duty positions within an Infantry Company because they increased the weapon weight to that of an AR-10, while reducing the ammunition carrying capacity of everyone that carried an M4A1.

They really need a 2 cartridge solution to replace 7.62 NATO most importantly, and then 5.56 NATO with something even smaller with the same or better ballistics. They’re trying to do a single caliber solution again, which has always failed.

The largest cartridge should not have a bore diameter larger than 6.5mm, and the case diameter should not be larger than .441”. A .473” case diameter requires bulky magazines for DM Rifles and larger linked ammunition pouches for the LMG.

The smaller cartridge should not exceed the 5.56x45 case head diameter, and should be shorter than the current 2.250” COL, but match or exceed its performance.

If someone were to introduce that weapons mix, Joes would be ecstatic.

The chain of command will still manage to bend them over with more things to carry, but at least they would be able to carry more ammo than they can now, with more downrange effectiveness, less recoil, and an easier training curve.

We also have to look at disruptions to modern warfare with the proliferation of UAS, and I’m not sure many people have thought about the 2nd-4th order of effects on what that’s going to do to the Infantry MTO&E.

USMC has already gotten rid of their Scout Sniper Platoons (STA) and their main Sniper Training program from the Fleet by order of General Berger, after they roughed-up his son in Japan during an exercise. Nepotism is a terrible and insidious force for an organization. Marines remove Scout Sniper platoons from Infantry Battalions

After 37 years of formal US Army Sniper School training, the Army still hasn’t figured out where Snipers are in the MTO&E. We were always in the Infantry Battalion Scout Platoons in the Line, but our Scout Platoon FM 7-92 didn’t even mention the word “Sniper”. Now they have done something with incorporating Cavalry units into Infantry Brigades and tasking them with Recon.

Once all the unit-level sensing sessions and AAR comments on 6.8 NGSW start to flow back up the chain, you will see a preponderance of, “This weapon is too heavy, is hard to charge, can’t carry enough ammo, kinda want my M4 back please."