As we have written here before, the U.S. Army has been stressing on the need to replace the 5.56mm round in order to defeat new body armour that potential enemies will be wearing.  The present 5.56mm round is said to be inadequate in penetrating ballistic plates that are similar to those used by the U.S. Military.

One option that the U.S. Army is looking into is the development of a 6.5mm case-telescoped (CT) round or a round that falls between a 5.56mm and a 7.62mm round according to Military.com.

A new development is that the U.S. Marine Corps are cooperating with the Army in the development replacement of the 5.56 mm and have taken a look at the 6.5mm Creedmoor with the Special Operations Command as revealed by Brig. Gen. Joseph Shrader, commander of Marine Corps Systems Command during the Sea-Air-Space Exposition early this month.

The revelation came as a surprise as the USMC has decided to procure more of the 5.56mm M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles which is based on the Heckler & Koch HK416 rifle that has been customized according to the requirements of the Marines. However, Shrader clarified that he does not know even with this collaboration for a new round would mean a new weapon for the Marines.

CT Round

In the same Military.com report, the U.S. Army has invested in the development of the 6.5mm CT rounds which is now known as the Textron's Case-Telescoped Weapons and Ammunition. While the weapon prototype developed for the round is heavy, the U.S. Army has opened it up to the industry to work on prototypes that can shed some of the weight and perhaps an even better weapons platform called the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle (NGSAR).

The U.S Army has accelerated the development of the NGSAR which is now seen to be initially ready either in 2022 or 2023, three or four years earlier than the target rollout.