The Army has officially fielded its brand-new rifles to soldiers, but the service is apparently still working out the kinks with the systems' advanced optic, according to a new assessment from the Defense Department's top weapons tester.
The fiscal 2024 report on the Army's Next-Generation Squad Weapon program from the Pentagon's Director, Operational Test and Evaluation published last week indicates that the XM157 Fire Control smart scope that's intended to augment the program's XM7 Next Generation Rifle and XM250 Next Generation Automatic Rifle received negative ratings from soldiers during testing last year.
While the report doesn't contain specific feedback on the XM7 or XM250 rifles, which were developed by gunmaker Sig Sauer to replace the M4 carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in the Army's arsenal, it clearly states that soldiers "assessed the usability of the XM157 as below average/failing."
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"The XM7 with mounted XM157 demonstrated a low probability of completing one 72-hour wartime mission without incurring a critical failure," the Operational Test and Evaluation report adds.
However, the report wasn't entirely negative: The assessment concluded that the specialized 6.8mm ammo for the XM7 and XM250 does, in fact, "provide increased lethality" over the legacy 5.56mm M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round used in the M4 and M249.
A 1-8x30 variable magnification direct view optic built by Vortex Optics subsidiary Sheltered Wings, the XM157 incorporates advanced technologies such as a laser rangefinder, aiming lasers, environmental sensors, ballistic solver, compass and a digital display overlay, all of which are designed to "increase the probability of hit and decrease the time to engage" with a computerized assist, according to the Army's fiscal 2025 budget request.
The XM157 also features wireless connectivity that will purportedly allow it to integrate with heads-up displays like the Army's current Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular, or ENVG-B, and future Integrated Visual Augmentation System, or IVAS, do-it-all goggles, allowing soldiers to survey the battlefield from cover using a live video feed from their weapon optic.
The Army plans on eventually fielding the optic alongside the XM7 and XM250 to close combat formations and security force assistance brigades, replacing the M68 Close Combat Optic and Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight.
The Army selected Vortex Optics and Sheltered Wings back in January 2022 to produce as many as 250,000 XM157 systems for around $2.7 billion over a decade. The service has so far spent roughly $584.64 million on 50,161 XM157 systems through fiscal 2025, according to budget documents, with plans on procuring a total of 124,749 of the optics in the coming years.
The dour XM157 assessment emerged as part of a classified combined operational demonstration and limited lethality assessment report in May, according to the DOT&E assessment. Ironically, that report was apparently authored shortly after the Army released video of a noncommissioned officer with the 101st Airborne Division praising the advanced optic following a month of testing -- praise the NCO himself later claimed was the "one nice thing" he had to say about the XM157 after 10 minutes critiquing the system.
Despite the documented issues detailed in the DOT&E report, the Army is still plowing ahead with the system's development. Indeed, the service released a sources sought notice in late January for "novel technologies or ongoing research that would be beneficial for the XM157 system as a module and/or software that provides enhanced capability."
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