The Army is scrapping its plans for a new, more powerful rifle

A month after officially announcing the competition for a new, more powerful rifle, the US Army is scrapping plans to adopt the 7.62 mm Interim Combat Service Rifle.

The Army was looking for a better alternative to the 5.56 mm round and the M4/M16 rifle platform, the latter of which has been in service in various forms since the 1960s.

As the Army noted in its solicitation for the ICSR, there were concerns that the 5.56 mm round had seen its lethality reduced by improvements in body armor as well as by the range over which some firefights in recent conflicts have taken place.

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Featured image courtesy of U.S. Army