Requirements for Replacement of Currently Issued 5.56 M-855 and 7.62 M-80.

[LR1955]

But it won't significantly reduce the ammo weight or recoil, which are two key requirements.

Tony:

If ammo weight is a requirement, you must state your requirements in priority.

If recoil forces are a requirement, state the requirement in terms of energy and then prioritize that requirement too.

You guys can't invent rules every time you are faced with reality. Where does ammo weight stand in terms of recoil? How about ammo weight in terms of overall cost? How about ammo weight in terms of penetration and lethality?

First -- state your requirements. Second -- prioritize them.

I will simply put ammunition weight lower on my priority as guys are used to carrying 7.62 and don't seem to be complaining about its value. And I will pump money into recoil reduction until that problem is solved.

You see, no one here can tell me -- the developer -- what you expect out of the ammunition. You guys state 'same vertex as M-80, same Ke at 1K meters' without even being able to state why 1K is required. You guys talk about 1K being some magical distance for M-80 ball. This is another example of someone blindly claiming a requirement because it sounds reasonable when in fact it is unnecessary.

What small arms optic allows anyone to see and ID an enemy that far? Not the Elcan -- you may see mirage and blurs that far but you won't be able to tell if what you are seeing can be determined to be an enemy or not. An example of blindly following Cold War Europe requirements made up in the 50's and were based on myths gathered from from WWI and WWII.

Today you must positively ID the target as a threat before you shoot and you better not kill an innocent. You guys can't comprehend this or you would be stating accuracy requirements in terms of reducing risk as well as increasing lethality.

Here is a requirement for you guys. Give me a 15 inch ordinate at 500 meters. Issued optics allow a guy to positively ID someone that far (most of the time) but not farther. A 15 inch ordinate means that in most wind conditions a two minute hold ought to offer a better than even chance of a hit without having to spend days trying to teach someone to dope winds which most won't do when under threat.

Give me accuracy potential from rifle / sighting system / and ammo of about 3 inches mean radius at 500 meters. That is a little over two minutes and ought to be possible in terms of production without costing trillions of dollars.

Let a Joe be able to shoot a bullet through the side door of a car with the window rolled down and penetrate at least fifteen inches of ballistic jel representing the width of an adult male. And this happens at 200 meters required, 500 desired. Same for shots through the windshield -- 200 required, 500 desired.

So, there are some realistic requirements for you that are based on what our guys want today.

Now, state your requirements and put them in priority or a developer can not develop what you want.

LR1955