The Army’s Plan to Replace the M4 and M249 with a 6.8mm Super Gun Family is Underway
In the cumulation of a story I’ve been working on and filing installments on since 2017, in what could be the biggest change in American military small arms in 65 years, the U.S. Army announced a major new contract for Sig Sauer this week.
The Army’s award on Tuesday of a 10-year firm-fixed-price follow-on production contract to New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer covers the manufacture and delivery of the new XM5 Rifle and the XM250 Automatic Rifle, as well as the weapons’ fodder– the 6.8 Common Cartridge family of ammunition.
The big prize of the Army’s four-year Next Generation Squad Weapon program, the XM5 is intended to fill the role currently held by the M4 Carbine series while the XM250 will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, two 5.56 NATO weapons that have been on the frontlines for decades.
XM250, left, XM5, right
More in my column at Guns.com.
laststandonzombieisland 
Depends on which “Common Cartridge family of ammunition” your referring too. Both the Sig .277 Fury and the True Velocity 6.8 TVCM competed against each other, Sig “lost”, True Velocity “didn’t”…