The NGSW competition is heating up with SIG Sauer announcing that it has completed the delivery of the required NGSW prototypes and ammunition to the U.S. Army for further trials. Popular Airsoft has been following this program from the very beginning as the outcome with this will be a new ammo and weapons systems for the U.S. Army that will replace the M4 rifle and the M249 support weapon.

Another seen outcome of the NGSW is that it will also influence adoption of the 6.8mm round by other branches and allies of the U.S.A as well how potential enemies will protect themselves against the round in terms of body armor as the NGSW addresses the ability of round to penetrate present body armor.

The NGSW has three finalists, General Dynamics-OTS Inc., AAI Corporation Textron Systems, and SIG Sauer. SIG Sauer is going all alone without any partner, developing everything in-house. The prototypes delivered incorporate feedback from the “soldier touch point” phase and include the Assault Rifle, Light Machine Gun, and the 6.8mm round. All companies have different approaches to development of weapons and round and SIG Sauer has a hybrid cased 6.8mm.  So far, the other competitors have not made announcement on their delivery of their prototypes and ammo in this phase of the NGSW competition.

SIG Sauer NGSW-R/MCX Spear

SIG Sauer NGSW-AR/LMG 6.8

NGSW 6.8x51/SIG Hybrid Ammunition

Will SIG Sauer be able to pull of winning this program to replace the weapons of the U.S. Army given that it has already won the MHS with the M17 and M18 pistols? Some think that SIG Sauer has the advantage given the MHS experience but it’s hard to discount the other two groups as they also have compelling cases for their offerings with the 6.8mm ammo and the polymer case from True Velocity that General Dynamics-OTS Inc. will be using for their candidates, and the LSAT  Cased-Telescoped (CT) weapons and ammo from ., AAI Corporation Textron Systems.

Press release from SIG Sauer below:

SIG SAUER Completes Final Delivery of Next Generation Squad Weapon System to U.S. Army

NEWINGTON, N.H., (February 2, 2021) – SIG SAUER, Inc. is proud to announce the final delivery of the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) systems to the U.S. Army, consisting of the revolutionary 6.8x51 hybrid ammunition, the NGSW-AR lightweight belt-fed machine gun, the NGSW-R rifle, and suppressors.  

“This historic moment is the culmination of an incredible collaboration between the U.S. Army and SIG. We commend Army leadership for having the vision to undertake this monumental procurement process and for remaining vigilant in their mission to bring a modern, transformational weapon system to the battlefield,” began Ron Cohen, President, and CEO of SIG SAUER. “Throughout the program, we have been given unprecedented access to the soldiers and Marines who will ultimately field these weapons.  These soldier touchpoint events have led to rapid advancements over the current weapons systems and resulted in our delivery of the most innovative Next Generation Squad Weapons system to the U.S. Army.”

Each component of the SIG SAUER NGSW system offers significant advancements in battlefield weapons performance beginning with the SIG SAUER 6.8x51 Hybrid Ammunition - a lightweight cartridge designed to handle higher pressures resulting in increased velocity and terminal performance.  The SIG SAUER Lightweight Belt-Fed Machine Gun (NGSW-AR) doubles the effective range and is 40% lighter than the current M249 while maintaining the preferred belt-fed operation, with reduced felt recoil to increased accuracy.  The SIG SAUER Rifle (NGSW-R) is built on the foundation of the battle-tested MCX platform with the added firepower of the 6.8x51 round; both the NGSW-AR and NGSW-R feature familiar AR-style ambidextrous ergonomics designed for a seamless transition from the legacy weapons to the SIG NGSW system.  The final component of the system is the SIG SAUER Next Generation Suppressors for reduced sound signature.

We are immensely proud that our entire NGSW submission has been designed, engineered, and manufactured as one integrated system by one single American company at our U.S. facilities,” continued Cohen.  “Each component has been exhaustively tested with the others to ensure peak operational performance and endurance for the rigors of the battlefield.”

“As a leader in the firearms manufacturing industry, we understand the challenge of bringing a system like this to reality. We designed our NGSW system to be production-ready and with every component coming from SIG, it presents minimal fielding risk to the U.S. Army.  The form, fit, and function of the firearms is familiar to our warfighters so the transition in the training and qualification of soldiers and Marines is faster and easier, and despite its revolutionary design, hybrid ammunition can be manufactured on a widespread basis immediately. We have a proven and successful track record of delivering multi-branch, service-wide, successful weapons programs to the U.S. Army, and we stand ready,” concluded Cohen.

The revolutionary designs and engineering advancements that were made throughout the development of the SIG NGSW system have ushered the launch of multiple commercially available products in the coming months.  These products include SIG FURY hybrid ammunition which uses the NGSW cartridge design for various calibers, and recently gained the regulatory Small Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI) approval, the MCX-SPEAR semi-automatic rifle, and the SIG Next Generation Suppressors.

All photos and images from SIG Sauer.