HM5 Sig Sauer
Last Tuesday, a message came that the US Army had finally decided on its new small arms — we are talking about the XM5 assault rifle and the XM250 light machine gun of the German company Sig Sauer. Taking them into service will mean a generational change of American army melee weapons. They will replace their outdated predecessors — the M4A1 carbine and the M249 machine gun.
The new items will be equipped with the XM157 fire control system and an optical device for monitoring and hitting targets at long range. Infantry, special forces, engineering and other combat units will receive new weapons. One of the main reasons for rearmament is the weak penetration characteristics of the 5.56 mm cartridge of the M4A1 carbine and the M249 machine gun, which are "too tough" for modern army bulletproof vests. The characteristics of the XM5 are still unknown, however, according to experts, they largely correspond to its civilian version — the MCX Spear, that is, the rifle has a length of 80.6 cm and a weight of 3.8 kg. It uses a two-stage trigger and a 20-round magazine. The assault rifle will be equipped with a silencer, which will significantly expand the possibilities of its use.
HM250 Sig Sauer
The XM250 is a smaller version of the MG-38 machine gun from Sig Sauer. The novelty has twice the shooting efficiency and reduced weight by 40%. The belt feed of cartridges is preserved, with reduced recoil and improved accuracy. The machine gun is also equipped with a silencer. Both models are designed for caliber .277 with a new 6.8 mm cartridge, which exceeds the lethality and range of ammunition of previous generations — 5.56 and 7.62 mm cartridges. The US Army plans to purchase 250,000 pieces of XM5 and XM250. Upon entering service, they will receive the designations M5 and M250. However, we are not talking about the complete rearmament of the entire army yet (the total number of the army, reserve and National Guard of the USA is about 1,010 000 people). First of all, the rearmament will affect elite units, while the rest will have to be content with M4A1 carbines.