US Army decides to compete OICW

When will this saga ever end and what will the US grunts end up carrying?

At this rate they will still be using the M16 in 2020.

Also with launching of the XM25 I though they had dropped the idea of a combined gun/grenade launcher as the OICW grenade lanucher was to small (at 20mm as opposed to the XM25 - 25mm) (see XM25 Prototypes To U.S. Army For Testing

Does anyone have a Janes subscription I would love to read the whole article?

Also anyone heard anything more/new on the OISW??

The US Army has issued a request for proposals for the Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) increment 1, which will consist of a family of weapons to replace the M4 carbine, M16 rifle, M249 light machine gun and some M9 pistols in use in the army today.

The programme is mired in controversy, with rivals to HK Defense arguing that the competition is not free and open. Originally the gun was going to be developed together with the XM25 25 mm grenade launcher.

HK Defense has been developing the 5.56 mm XM8 carbine as an additional capability for the army. In budget documents released at the beginning of this year, the army set aside US$32.5 million to buy 10,400 XM8 carbines in Fiscal Year 2006. That procurement is now on hold pending the competition.

Rival companies which did not compete for the original grenade launcher contract have protested, arguing that since the focus of the programme has changed to the gun, it should again face competition.

The army denies that it is favouring HK Defense. The service says it decided to put the programme up for competition because of a recent decision to include a light machine gun (LMG) in addition to the original carbine, special compact and designated marksman variants, service officials said.

Janes

Global Security OICW page

[edit on 20-5-2005 by Popeye]