From Korea to Afghanistan, the lives of American Soldiers have frequently depended on properly functioning equipment in inhospitably frigid environments.

This fact led to a multiweek test of the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Test Center at Fort Greely, Alaska early this year.

The XM7 and XM250 are successors to the M4 rifle and M249 light machine gun that American forces have used for decades. The new weapons boast improved accuracy and range, weigh less and fire with less recoil even though their 6.8-millimeter round is larger than the two legacy weapons’ 5.56 mm cartridge.

“The big idea behind this weapon is for close-combat forces,” said Steven Prewitt, test officer. “It’s a capability gap-filler for infantry and special forces, not necessarily an M4 replacement. It gives them a different tool.”

Even when outfitted with a flash suppressor, the XM7 weighs less than 10 pounds. The new weapon has a standard rifle scope with an etched reticle, but also much more.

“It has adjustable modes of operation where it can act like a red dot or close combat optic,” said Prewitt. “It also has a corrected aimpoint: it has a ballistic calculator and range finder built in, so if you range a target it takes into consideration your environmental conditions, the distance to target, and the attitude of the weapon to ensure first shot accuracy.”

Soldiers from the Army’s 11th Airborne stationed at Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson supported the testing.

“We had an organic troop, which was nice,” said Isaac Howell, senior test officer. “We had the entire leadership from the company commander on down.”

The Soldiers and testers utilized the weapons in rigorous scenarios, from static and kinetic ranges at Fort Greely and Fort Wainwright to maneuver live fires and ultimately a 72-hour simulated mission across CRTC’s vast ranges. All the while, a team of 16 data collectors recorded information in the weapons’ battery life, hit-miss data on targets the Soldiers engaged, and a variety of human factors data involving utilizing the weapons in extreme cold.

“We knew it was going to be extremely fast-paced and that usually means there will be changes,” said Monica Gaschler, senior data collector. “We settled on 16 data collectors, which meant one data collector per three Soldiers. 14 went out in the field, and two stayed in house to do quality assurance on the data and write test incident reports.”

Extreme cold was a coveted commodity for this test, and the weather forecast delivered beyond the highest hopes of the testers.

“We were fortunate to have some pretty substantial cold weather for the duration of the test,” said Prewitt. “The last urban rifle marksmanship course we did was -54 degrees Fahrenheit when we started, so it was incredibly cold.”

“The Soldiers really got to experience what a long, cold day was,” added Howell. “Every day they went out one week it didn’t get above minus 20. The next week it was hovering in the minus 30 to minus 40 range all day, every day.”

The majority of data collectors who supported the test traveled from Yuma Test Center in Arizona, which like CRTC is under the command of U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground.

“It was an endurance challenge for data collectors from the desert,” said Gaschler. “It’s rare for data collectors to be out in the field in temperatures below minus 50 degrees, but they did it without complaints. They got every bit of data, and I am so proud of every one of them.”

“We’ve got a lot of data that is informing decisions,” added Howell. “It’s very fortunate that we had a good block of cold to test this equipment, especially something as prominent as the NGSW is going to be. It has definitely been a successful test.”

Screaming Eagle Division Soldiers at Fort. Campbell just completed training and testing the Army’s 6.8mm family of Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle (NGSW-R), NGSW-Automatic Rifle (AR) and the NGSW-Fire Control (FC) systems.

Troops of Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and members of 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, undertook New Equipment Training on the NGSW.

“The New Equipment Training gave the Soldiers a good base before coming out and using the NGSWs,” said Infantryman Sgt. Jack Scott, a team leader in Alpha Company.

Their training covered the similarities and differences between the new weapons and the legacy 5.56mm M4A1 Carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon systems, focusing on enhanced lethality.

“We did a lot of training with both static and maneuver ranges, so the product of Soldier you get now, during the live fire, is high quality due to all of that training,” added Scott.

Once complete with new equipment training, Soldiers tested the NGSW in a Limited User Test, or LUT, in a crawl-walk-run method to ensure all operational data is collected on the weapon, as well as user integration with the new equipment.

Alpha Company and 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment initially conducted static qualification and variable distance ranges with legacy weapon systems and NGSW, to compare performance of both and give Soldiers repetitions and familiarity with the NGSW.

Alpha Company 1st Sgt. Justin Babb appreciated the benefits of participating in an operational test and the opportunity for his junior Soldier’s feedback to contribute and impact Army modernization.

“The candid feedback that the Soldiers and NCOs provided during focus groups and surveys will provide the Army with perspective from the lowest level of user that will actually use the system,” said Babb.

Major differences between the legacy M4, M249 systems and the NGSWs were immediately noticeable by the Soldiers.

Spec. Maximiliano Arguindegui, an automatic rifleman with 1/75th Ranger Regiment, said, “Overall, I feel faster with the M249, but I prefer the NGSW-AR because it makes me more lethal.”

Scott added, “Stopping power with the 6.8 round is a big improvement compared to the M4 and M249 and having the ability to use with or without the suppressor is a huge feature for the support by fire element.”

Leaders of Alpha Company also said participating in a test with the Operational Test Command enabled them to get after their internal readiness.

Alpha Company Commander, Capt. Jordan Mares, said, “Being a part of the NGSW test absolutely supported our company readiness. The LUT gave us opportunities to hone our craft, practice lessons learned with feedback from subject-matter experts, and the ability to conduct a lot of repetitions to practice small unit tactics.”

Staff Sgt. Ivan Alvarez, a Squad Leader with Alpha Company, was initially skeptical of the NGSW.

“When we first started the LUT, I was very against the NGSW-R,” he said. “I’m used to the M4 — it’s lighter — I’m used to the recoil, the engagements, everything the M4 has to offer. But, as we went through the LUT with the NGSW-R, I can see the capabilities that it brings to an infantryman, especially at a longer distance.”

Alvarez also said testing the new weapons gave his squad added training opportunities.

“We got after a lot of training that we would normally have to wait months to set up and accomplish,” he said. “We were able to get more marksmanship time, more range time, and were able to train under various environmental conditions.”

Another squad leader with the Rangers provided his observations on the training benefit while participating in an operational test.

“We were able to get reps in on a new weapon system as well as our legacy equipment,” said Sgt. Joseph Martin. “We were able to train on many basic things that we want to train on every year, but condensed to get more repetitions, as well as live fire iterations for our younger, inexperienced Soldiers.”

Since U.S. Ordnance received the NSN and contract, there are now over 186 parts inspections that must be accomplished. Each one must meet the military standards for production. There is also a protocol testing called for in MIL-G-70790 (AR), the Military Specification for Gun, Machine, 40mm MK19 Mod 3, which must be strictly adhered to and passed with government inspectors viewing the proceedings. In this article, we’ll review relevant first parts of the testing we observed. 

Section 3.7 Marking: Each machine gun and each part for which marking is prescribed shall be clearly marked in accordance with MIL-STD-130. Each receiver shall be identified with a serial number which shall be assigned by the procuring activity. The markings in this photo are the correct ones according to the MIL-STD. The barrel markings are as well, but parts like the barrel also receive a “PM” mark for “Proof” and “Magnetic Particle Tested” (See the M249 article in this issue for Magnaflux procedures).

Finished MK19 barrels waiting for assembly. As part of the MIL-STD, the grooves must be checked for height all through samples of the production barrels. Here, an extremely thin shim is cut cross-sectionally of the middle of the barrel, and the consistency and depth of grooves related to lands are checked, as well as finish depth. The cutaway barrel is for reference on the chamber and how the projectile is entering the grooves in the bore. Obviously, these are destructive tests and done on random barrels during the specification match testing.

In Section 4.5.8 Trunnion Load, a. for First Article Inspection, this test shall be performed concurrently with the belt pull test. B. Mount a Quartz Force Link Cell Kistler Model 9362 with a Charge Amplifier Model 504E and a Filter Model 545A (Or Equivalent) directly below the receiver, below the locking pin, integral with the mount and in alignment with the receiver buffers. C. Record a time -load trace of recoil using a Honeywell Visicorder Modl 1858 with a TCD (tape compatible differential) Amplifier Model 1887, or approved alternate equipment. D. Trunion load forces are to be measured at the mounting point. The last three (3) rounds of the belt fired shall be discounted. The mount shown here is a special mount custom made to the government specification for the test. The Kistler Force meter is a very expensive and sensitive piece of equipment, yet it is built to handle greater recoil forces than it will measure in this test. The reason for testing during the belt-pull test is based on finding variations in the side weight of the belt, and as the belt lightens the forces will change. This data will be valuable to see the consistency of the construction. After this first article test, the trunnion load tests will be less frequent but based purely on single rounds fired.

In the next issue of Small Arms Defense Journal, we will be joining U.S. Ordnance for the full-tilt firing part of the test. The ammo is lined up, the testing fixtures are ready, and we’ll be doing cadenced endurance testing, temperature testing, belt-pull, cyclic rate of fire, angle of fire, firing modes, accuracy, reliability, and a host of other tests. The full trunnion load test will be done several times through the testing. Be sure to join us!