New weapons capacity new bullets, suppressors and tech for particular ops

TAMPA, Fla. — Particular operators desire a host of small palms, ammunition and explosive gadgets to outrange and strike adversaries in long term missions on what the Pentagon anticipates shall be a extra aggressive battlefield.

Lt. Col. John “Tosh” Lancaster, program supervisor for U.S. Particular Operations Command’s lethality acquisitions, ran down the checklist of wishes — from gadget weapons to suppressors and bullets — on Tuesday on the SOF Week convention in Florida.

“Toe to toe with an enemy guns device, does our guns device outrange it? Is it extra correct?” Lancaster mentioned. “In case you take a look at what we’ve got at the battlefield at the moment, we will’t say that during each class.”

The light-weight medium gadget gun, a .338 Norma Magnum weapon, is scheduled to box in fiscal 2026, Lancaster mentioned. However customers nonetheless want equipment and a brand new suite of ammo for the weapon. The gadget gun itself will desire a devoted optic to look far away objectives.

With out disclosing specifics, Lancaster additionally driven for middle of the night vary finders for snipers.

The light-weight gadget gun-assault — a lighter model of the light-weight medium gadget gun nonetheless underneath construction — is supposed to interchange the legacy 5.56mm Squad Automated Weapon, which has been in provider for many years. The caliber hasn’t but been decided on, however Lancaster hinted that 6.5mm is main the chase.

The command may be in search of new suppressors for gadget weapons and rifle/carbine small palms. There should be a discount in flash, sound, warmth and spherical disturbance for all suppressors, he mentioned.

However the ones straight-line bullets can’t arc over berms, partitions or hills the way in which mortars do. What’s extra, mortars and low-flying, devoted drones don’t seem to be at all times an choice; when they’re, they’re a dear option to spoil a goal, he famous.

“We have now a wide variety of items to kill in the back of berms,” Lancaster mentioned. “We don’t have a squad-level, cheap choice.”

He specified a necessity for a weapon that may be carried conveniently on a three-day foot patrol and nonetheless get the task performed.

However once in a while a distinct more or less growth is at the menu. Whilst particular operators are on the best in their craft for breaching stumbling blocks, they want one thing even higher. The command desires to replace its breaching and demolition kits with new far off firing gadgets and slap fees — strips of explosive that may be temporarily “slapped” on a disadvantage to penetrate in a single blast.

Necessarily, the command desires explosives which might be more practical and feature upper yield.