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The Army’s planned SIG Sauer-made replacement for the M4 Carbine is slated for delivery to troops before year’s end.

As we previously reported, SIG won the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon, or NGSW, competition in April 2022, securing a 10-year contract for two weapons chambered in the new hybrid 6.8×51 Common Cartridge. The weapons are intended to replace the Army’s 5.56 NATO small arms in front-line service.

The rifle, initially designated the XM5 and now type-classified as the M7, is based on SIG’s MCX Spear platform and will replace the M4 and M4A1. The SIG LMG-6.8, adopted as the M250 light machine gun, will replace the FN-made M249 SAW.

Now, the lighter, more compact XM8 is the Army’s rifle of choice, as shown by the service’s FY27 budget request, which debuted earlier this year, and by this week’s reporting from Military Times. 

The outlet reports the XM8 will reach troops in December, and SIG reps say the new rifle is far better than the “old” new rifle.

“From our perspective [the M8 is] a far superior rifle to the M7,” Dave Buehler, SIG’s vice president of manufacturing, told the outlet. “On the M7, our hands were kind of tied [with what] the design criteria or characteristics of the contract required – even if we didn’t like them, we had to meet them. So now, the M8 considers our feedback, the soldiers’ feedback. And we can’t wait to get it out there.”

Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle showcased a Soldier with an XM8 at the opening of the 2026 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., this week.

While the XM8 and M7 shown above both are seen with the standard steel 20-round magazine, the Army has also been trialing a 25-round magazine developed by SIG for the NGSW.

Further, what appear to be 25-round Magpul PMAGs were seen in the field with the guns earlier this year.