Army Captain Slams New XM7 Rifle As “Unfit,” Sig Sauer Says Otherwise

Military Capt. Braden Trent has precipitated one thing of a stir this week, saying that knowledge he has collected factors to his service’s new 6.8x51mm XM7 service rifle affected by severe reliability and different points, together with extreme barrel put on and common breakages of key elements. He claims, based mostly partially on observations of live-fire workout routines involving XM7-armed troopers, that these issues, along with a bunch of different elements, make the gun “unfit” for its meant function. The gun’s producer, Sig Sauer, has strenuously pushed again on Trent’s assertions and outright denied quite a lot of them.

Capt. Trent offered his findings, which come from an unclassified pupil thesis, on the annual Modern Day Marine exposition in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. The Military infantry officer is presently attending the Expeditionary Warfare Faculty, a part of the Marine Corps College in Quantico, Virginia.

“My venture started as a fact-finding mission. I needed to search out out, how does this new product [the XM7] enhance soldier lethality and what knowledge can I present on the unclassified stage to assist troopers and leaders alike make higher choices on the tactical, operational, and strategic ranges?” Trent mentioned in his presentation at Trendy Day Marine. His analysis, “consisting of in depth historic evaluation, testing with specialists, ballistics analysis, intensive dialog with troopers, trade and leaders,” got here “to the conclusion that the XM7 is unfit to be used as a contemporary service rifle.”

What’s the XM7 Rifle?

The XM7 is a 6.8x51mm model of Sig Sauer’s more and more fashionable MCX Spear family of rifles. Although Sig’s MCX household is a separate growth, the core design is derived from the AR-15/M16 pattern family of rifles, and higher receivers from sure variations of the previous may be immediately paired with decrease receivers from the latter with the help of an adapter. The general configurations of weapons in each households are very related, as are the fundamental ergonomics and management preparations.

MCX rifles notably use a fuel piston working mechanism fairly than the direct impingement technique discovered on AR-15/M16 varieties. Direct impingement (DI) entails propellant gases immediately blowing into the primary motion to cycle it, which might extra rapidly result in fouling on key elements with out common cleansing. Piston programs that hold fuel away from a gun’s inner works can supply improved general reliability in sure circumstances, though they are typically heavier than their DI counterparts.

The XM7 is one a part of the Military’s Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) household of programs, which additionally contains the 6.8x51mm XM250 light machine gun, the computerized XM157 optic, and numerous forms of 6.8x51mm ammunition. The 6.8mm rounds notably have a hybrid case with a brass physique and a stainless-steel base designed to permit for improved efficiency and decreased weight.

Sig Sauer is now delivering XM7s and XM250s, in addition to 6.8x51mm rounds, after having gained the NGSW competitors in 2022, and the weapons are being fielded. On the time of the preliminary award, Sig’s contract for the weapon portion of the NGSW program had a ceiling of nearly $5 billion. The XM157s are being procured individually from Vortex Optics.

Military fight experiences from the World Warfare on Terror, particularly operations in Afghanistan, where reports often emerged of U.S. forces being outranged, helped drive the NGSW program’s core requirement for weapons firing bigger rounds providing larger vary and terminal ballistic efficiency. Issues about improving adversary body armor have been additionally an element.

As of final yr, the Military mentioned its “acquisition targets” included the acquisition of 111,428 XM7s, 13,334 XM250s, and 124,749 XM157s. The XM7 and XM250 are in line to exchange a considerable portion of the service’s current M4A1 carbines (an AR-15/M16 household design) and M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW), respectively, each of that are chambered to fireplace the 5.56x45mm cartridge.

Capt. Trent’s technical criticisms of the XM7

“I’d prefer to current a technical comparability between the XM7 and the M4A1. There’s a number of statistics on this web page, however the first one I’d like to attract your consideration to is complete fight weight. Complete fight weight is outlined as the load of the weapon, together with a loaded journal and any equipment that may be anticipated to be issued to troopers receiving the system,” Capt. Trent mentioned on Tuesday. “The M4A1 is available in at round eight and a half kilos, which is considerably light-weight, however nonetheless considerably heavy in comparison with rifles of outdated. The XM7, by comparability, is available in at 15.4 kilos.”

“The XM7 has a comparatively quick barrel size of 13 inches,” he added. “That’s really an inch and a half shorter than the M4A1.”

It’s instantly price noting right here that the Army says the usual barrel size for the XM7 is 15.3 inches, which is longer than the 14.5-inch barrel on the M4A1. Sig does supply the MCX Spear with a 13-inch barrel. How Trent arrived on the “fight weight” determine for the XM7 can also be not instantly clear. The rifle weighs 8.4 kilos unloaded with no equipment and 9.8 kilos with simply the addition of a suppressor, according to the Army. A loaded 20-round journal and the XM157 optic would additional enhance that weight.

“The NGSW program required a velocity of larger than 3,000 ft per second. Shorter barrels have a unfavorable affect on velocity, which means that an immense energy load is then required of the ammunition to achieve program necessities,” per Trent’s analysis. “The end result is an immense chamber stress within the XM7, in extra of 80,000 PSI [pounds per square inch]. This causes dramatically elevated put on of inner elements and ammunition.”

Catridge circumstances “have actually been ripped aside by the inner stress of the system,” he added. Ruptured circumstances in any firearm may cause malfunctions and immediate potential operator security considerations.

Trent mentioned he noticed and/or discovered of quite a lot of different severe technical points after being given the prospect to interview “over 150 troopers, maintainers, and leaders,” in addition to examine a pattern set of 23 XM7 rifles, all from the first Brigade Fight Staff, a hundred and first Airborne Division. 1/a hundred and first’s 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment was the first operational Army unit to start receiving XM7s and the remainder of the NGSW household of programs.

The “most severe problem noticed with the XM7 was barrel and rifle[ing] gouging occurring in all samples that had larger than 2,000 rounds via the system,” in keeping with Trent. “It needs to be mentioned that 2,000 rounds via a rifle is mostly, within the trade, thought of to be a break-in interval. Nevertheless, roughly 4 inches from the muzzle … [and] one inch behind the fuel block, a scratch, or in some circumstances, a gouge is beginning to kind within the rifling of the system itself. This could result in every kind of issues with accuracy and security.”

As well as, “the XM7[‘s] charging deal with needs to be pulled all the best way to the rear cost the bolt into battery” and “for those who try to try this, you’ll really affect the rear of the inventory. So troopers have to drag up and out on the charging deal with in an effort to cost the weapon,” per Trent. “There have been three separate circumstances of the charging deal with snapping when pulled with extreme power beneath adrenaline.”

“It needs to be talked about that the XM7 does have a facet charging deal with, however that is positioned so near the face of the soldier that it’s not ergonomically viable and is very troublesome to function when capturing inclined,” he added.

“Subsequent problem noticed is the suppressor and the suppressor locking ring. The suppressor locking ring is the gadget that attaches the suppressor to the rifle,” Trent highlighted. “Troopers reported that with hand energy, this gadget could possibly be damaged, which means {that a} suppressor couldn’t be mounted to the system or might trigger catastrophic malfunctions.”

The Military captain mentioned he had noticed three suppressors that had suffered catastrophic harm as a result of this problem throughout his go to to the a hundred and first Airborne Division.

Trent additionally identified issues encountered with the XM7’s ambidextrous journal launch.

“Whereas seemingly well-intentioned, for those who can think about the rifle on the low prepared place within the arms of a soldier or Marine, this may often stumble upon the physique armor or chest plates of troopers within the discipline, inflicting the journal to be launched prematurely,” he mentioned. “This was such an issue that some troopers had really created DIY [do-it-yourself] options to this in an try and get round it.”

To underscore his personal findings, Trent highlighted feedback concerning the XM7 from the most recent annual report put out by the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) earlier this yr. Based mostly on the outcomes of mixed operations demonstration and restricted lethality evaluation in 2024, “the XM7 with mounted XM157 demonstrated a low chance of finishing one 72-hour wartime mission with out incurring a essential failure,” the unclassified report mentioned, however with out offering extra particular particulars.

Operational limitations

Trent additional contended that the XM7, even working as meant, is just not an acceptable normal infantry weapon for the Military as a result of its weight, bulk, elevated recoil, and decreased journal capability (20 versus 30 rounds) in comparison with the prevailing M4A1. He additionally argued that proof continues to indicate that almost all of infantry engagements happen at ranges of 300 meters or much less, negating the elevated efficient vary and improved terminal ballistic efficiency that the Army has cited as core causes for adopting the brand new 6.8x51mm service rifle.

“I used to be in a position to observe … a mixed arms stay fireplace train, or firm stay fireplace for individuals who aren’t acquainted,” Trent defined. “The platoon I used to be tasked with observing was tasked to suppress the target for the opposite two platoons of that firm to then maneuver and supply results on the battlefield.”

“Inside 10 minutes, the platoon I noticed was nearly utterly out of ammunition after beginning the engagement. By quarter-hour, their capability to provide efficient suppression had change into nearly zero,” he continued. “That is after having taken spare magazines for the XM7 from radio operators, medics, platoon management, and so forth.”

“And this will actually be drawn down to at least one main fault within the XM7, and that’s the UBL … or common primary load. It’s a metric that may be utilized to nearly any weapon system, and it primarily means the quantity of magazines and related ammunition {that a} system makes use of and is anticipated to be carried into battle,” he added. “So the XM7 [and] the M4A1 even have the identical variety of magazines of their UBL seven, however keep in mind, we’re speaking about that capability distinction. The entire spherical rely a soldier carries into battle with the XM7 is 140 rounds in comparison with the 210 rounds of the M4A1. Now once more, a 70 spherical distinction might not appear vital, however to the soldier within the combat, it completely is a distinction. To not point out that each journal added to the XM7, every 20-round loaded journal provides one other 1.25 kilos to the soldier’s load, which means that if troops outfitted with the XM7 tried to match their outdated UBLs [in terms of round count], they’re going to have much more weight being carried.”

“The ultimate factor I’d like to say is the Chief of Military Infantry’s said aim of a 55-pound complete soldier load,” the Military captain famous towards the tip of his presentation at Trendy Day Marine. “If we simply take the XM7 and its seven UBL journal load, we’re nearly at half that weight, and that’s earlier than the soldier is placed on physique armor, water, a rucksack, or anything that they’ll want within the combat.”

Trent additionally performed his personal experiments with the assistance of the Marine Corps’ Weapons Coaching Battalion, and utilizing 7.62x51mm M110 and 5.56x45mm M38 rifles as surrogates for the XM7. The M38 is a subvariant of the Marine Corps’ M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR), which is, in flip, a variant of the HK416. The HK416 is a gas-piston derivative of the AR-15/M16 sequence.

“The information demonstrates {that a} heavier system, or [a system with] greater weight and recoil, will increase shooter engagement time, each on the primary shot and on follow-up pictures. A heavier weight and recoil system decreases shooter hit chance in any respect distances from seven to 300 meters, the usual vary of an infantry engagement, and a lighter weight and recoil system permits sooner follow-up pictures in any respect distances from seven to 300 meters,” in keeping with Trent.

Sig Sauer’s Rebuttal

Jason St. John, Senior Director of Strategic Merchandise for the Protection Methods Group at Sig Sauer, and Joshua Shoemaker, the corporate’s Protection Product Supervisor for Rifles and Suppressors, offered TWZ with an in depth rebuttal to Capt. Trent’s findings from the present ground at Trendy Day Marine this week.

St. John mentioned that Trent had not consulted the Military program workplace or Sig Sauer as a part of the work on his thesis. Sig Sauer did meet with Trent on the sidelines of Trendy Day Marine to debate his findings.

“I imagine that Captain Trent had some shortcomings and difficulties in understanding the totality of the NGSW program and a few vital blind spots into the progress that the NGSW program has made over the past let’s name it 24 months. By him not having any readability on any of the engineering change proposal efforts, and understanding of the a hundred and first [Airborne Division’s] fielding efforts, the precise pacing of this system … and actually the continuing product enchancment efforts that this system workplace and Sig Sauer are doing in live performance with one another, actually clouded his perspective, and I imagine his opinions that he represented,” St. John mentioned. “There are vital misrepresentations and holes in these statements [that he made].”

For one, St. John denied that the XM7’s common chamber stress has been exceeding 80,000 PSI. That at the very least sure loadings of the 6.8x51mm cartridge, in addition to the .277 Fury round it is based on, have maximum chamber pressure ratings of 80,000 PSI has been widely reported.

“It operates within the 77K PSI vary, which is greater than legacy ammunition pressures,” St. John defined. “Legacy ammunition pressures common, let’s simply name it about 65K PSI. We are able to go plus three, minus three, we are able to go really minus 10, relying on the cartridge. However the good thing about the know-how of the Sig Sauer hybrid ammunition is the power for that ammunition and the event of this weapon system to function at greater pressures, so that you could get a better stage of efficiency out of a smaller weapon system.”

St. John added that the XM7 had been examined to securely function with chamber pressures as much as 125,000 PSI and mentioned that any assertions that the gun’s chamber stress would possibly current dangers to the shooter have been “patently false.” He additionally mentioned he was not conscious of any case rupturing since Sig Sauer first developed the ammunition earlier than the NGSW program was even formalized, however didn’t deny the chance.

“We do vital reliability [testing], however extra importantly, we do a number of security testing. And one of many issues that we do from a security testing perspective is we do obstructed bore, and an obstructed bore take a look at is de facto probably the most catastrophic occasion that might occur in a firearms incident,” St. Johns defined. “We do it in three completely different positions. We put a lodged projectile an inch within the chamber, we put one other spherical behind it, and we fireplace it with a lodged projectile. We do that very same take a look at with it halfway … down the barrel, and we do it on the finish of the barrel. If, throughout that take a look at, we’ve got any form of catastrophic failure that’s going to lend itself to a security concern for a soldier, the weapon system is totally redesigned and began over.”

“There has by no means been an incident with the NGSW with an obstructed bore in our testing the place, if that gun had an obstructed bore, which is the high-det[onation], high-pressure, excessive catastrophic occasion, the place there’s ever been a scenario the place that rifle has witnessed any potential for inflicting a difficulty,” he added.

St. John additionally rejected the assertion that the XM7’s ambidextrous journal launch is especially straightforward to hit by chance.

“Now we have redesigned our journal launch to make sure that it has a greater kind and performance, as a result of there was [sic] some conditions the place our journal launch was barely out of spec from a elements perspective, and due to that out of specification, the journal launch would unintentionally launch the journal,” St. John did acknolwedge. “That’s been rectified via the U.S. Military engineering change proposal course of. We’ve applied a number of manufacturing inspection processes of that half to make sure that, as that’s recognized, that that may’t occur sooner or later.”

Each St. John and Sig Sauer’s Shoemaker mentioned they have been unaware of any cases of the XM7’s charging deal with being snapped off.

What Capt. Trent is “extra seemingly referencing is once you cost the charging deal with – it’s a consumer coaching factor – guys are coming off of the AR[-15/M16] platform on a direct impingement system the place that’s tied to the provider,” Shoemaker mentioned. “It is a piston-driven system. It’s tied on the op[erating] rod. So somewhat little bit of motion up and down. So for those who pull on it in a rearward place, it might crash into the again of the inventory, if the inventory is in a collapsed place.”

“Should you pull it [the charging handle] to the rear, usually, it’s not going to intervene with the bustock. Should you elevate up barely on it’s not going to intervene with the buttstock,” St. John added. “I’ve by no means seen in any analysis, any testing, or had any discipline report from any finish consumer of an MCX charging deal with snapping from use.”

Shoemaker additional asserted that the fundamental problem of troopers changing into extra acquainted with the particulars of working the XM7’s charging deal with has been “overcome with coaching.”

When requested about Capt. Trent’s description of the XM7’s side-mounted charging deal with as “not ergonomically viable,” St. John known as that an “opinion” and mentioned that having two charging handles on the gun presents shooters extra choices relying on the circumstances.

“I actually don’t know what he’s referencing there,” St. John additionally mentioned when concerning the suppressor locking ring problem.

“Barrel life on our rifle exceeds 10,000 rounds. I imagine the military requirement was 5,000 rounds. With out bodily inspecting the barrel … that he’s referencing, I’d say that I don’t assume we’ve witnessed something that he’s referencing,” St. John added.

Sig Sauer’s St. John did acknowledge that the XM7 continues to be evolving because of ongoing testing and consumer suggestions, and that Sig expects extra adjustments to the gun to come back sooner or later, as is usually the case when a army will get a brand new weapon system.

“I believe that troopers and residents ought to need Sig Sauer, the U.S. [Army] program workplace to proceed that apply of frequently evolving and creating and bettering their troopers weapons programs. And I believe we anticipate that we’re going to endure these enchancment processes for the following 25 to 30 years,” Sig Sauer’s St. John did additionally word. “There’s going to be enhancements in manufacturing [and] supplies processes. The troopers on the bottom and the U.S. Military are going to dictate completely different operational necessities and requirements for the weapons programs, and we’re going to need to react to these modifications which can be going to optimize that weapon system as that evolves via time and historical past.”

“It needs to be no shock, in my view, that particularly within the infancy of a weapons program that there’s a really aggressive enchancment effort to make sure that the Military and the troopers get the weapon system that they deserve,” he added.

What the XM7’s future would possibly in any other case maintain

TWZ has additionally reached out to the Military for responses to Capt. Trent’s findings, together with his assertions concerning the basic operational utility of the XM7 in comparison with the M4A1.

“The Subsequent Era Squad Weapons (NGSW) program considerably will increase lethality and chance of hit on the squad stage,” the Military’s official website on the program declares. “As a result of nature of the NGSW ammunition, the 6.8mm projectile will outperform even probably the most fashionable 5.56mm and seven.62mm ammunition. These weapon programs will give Troopers vital functionality enhancements in accuracy, vary, signature administration, and lethality.”

It’s additionally price noting that the NGSW program additionally displays the tip result of decades of failed Army attempts to undertake a brand new normal service rifle, doubtlessly in a distinct cartridge than 5.56x45mm, in addition to efforts to move away from the AR-15/M16 family. For an armed power as massive because the Military, any wide-scale adoption of a brand new firearm and a brand new kind of ammunition is a big enterprise to start with. All new programs undergo some extent of teething points when they’re first fielded.

As talked about in the beginning of the story, NGSW is a multi-billion-dollar effort of main significance to each the Military and Sig Sauer. Simply this week, the Pentagon and the Army announced major service-wide restructuring plans that may have immense ramifications for a lot of applications, quite a lot of that are prone to be severely truncated, if not reduce outright, within the coming months.

How the Military progresses with the XM7 and the remainder of the NGSW program might have implications for different branches of the U.S. army, as nicely. Given its measurement, the Military is usually a key driver of joint power small arms choices merely as a result of logistics elements and economies of scale. Virtually the entire U.S. military, with the notable exception of particular operations items, is within the course of proper now of fielding variants of Sig Sauer’s P320 pistol. The Military chosen a P320-based design because the winner of its Modular Handgun System (MHS) competitors in 2017. Sig Sauer has confronted vital separate criticism across the P320 over serious drop safety issues that the company insists it has resolved. The pistols additionally suffered teething troubles throughout preliminary fielding with the US Military.

Marine officers mentioned individually at Trendy Day Marine this week that their service had only in the near past accomplished an analysis of the NGSW household of programs and is now processing the outcomes to find out what, if any, steps ahead might be taken. For now, the first arm of the Marines stays the M27.

“My hope is just not that I can present a definitive reply … it requires additional exploration by specialists within the discipline, choice makers in excessive locations, to actually discover this,” Capt. Trent did additionally instructed members of the Marine Corps Affiliation in a stay interview from the ground of Trendy Day Marine after his presentation. “I hope that I’ve at the very least generated dialog that may lead the American army to receiving much more deadly weapon programs and capabilities.”

“My hope is that this simply generates additional curiosity and dialogue about what are the professionals and cons of the system,” Trent continued. “If we’re going to stay with the XM7, okay, however how can we tackle the problems for the system to mitigate threat to troopers [and] maximize lethality?”

Particular because of Breaking Defense‘s Ashley Roque for offering audio of Braden Trent’s presentation at Trendy Day Marine.

Contact the creator: joe@twz.com