Courtesy of Tactical Life

The U.S. Army has posted a special notice announcing classified industry days for its Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle, the intended replacement for the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) in Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) and select support units over the next ten years. According to Soldier Systems, the industry days will take place July 25-27, 2017 at Fort Benning. Contractors who want to participate have until June 23, 2017 to submit the names of all attendees.

Here are some of the general requirements for the Army’s Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle, via FedBizOpps:

It will combine the firepower and range of a machine gun with the precision and ergonomics of a carbine, yielding capability improvements in accuracy, range, and lethality. The weapon will be lightweight and fire lightweight ammunition with improved lethality. The NGSAR will help to reduce the heavy load that burdens Soldiers and that has a significant negative impact on their mobility, survivability, and firing accuracy. Soldiers will employ the NGSAR against close and extended range targets in all terrains and conditions. The NGSAR will be compatible with and dependent on legacy optics and night vision devices to meet required capabilities. It will also be compatible with the Small Arms Fire Control system currently in development and possess back-up sights. It is anticipated the NGSAR support concept will be consistent with (comparable to) that of the predecessor M249 SAW involving the Army two level field and sustainment maintenance system. The NGSAR will achieve overmatch by killing stationary, and suppressing moving, threats out to 600 meters (T), and suppressing all threats to a range of 1200 meters (O).

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Photo courtesy of Sgt. Ian Ives