{"id":880,"date":"2023-12-11T01:09:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T01:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=880"},"modified":"2023-12-11T01:09:31","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T01:09:31","slug":"next-generation-squad-weapons-tested-by-ft-campbell-infantry-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=880","title":{"rendered":"Next Generation Squad Weapons Tested by Ft Campbell Infantry, Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. \u2014 Screaming Eagle Division Soldiers here just completed training and testing the Army\u2019s 6.8mm family of Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle (NGSW-R), NGSW-Automatic Rifle (AR) and the NGSW-Fire Control (FC) systems.<\/p>\n

Troops of Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and members of 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, undertook New Equipment Training on the NGSW.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New Equipment Training gave the Soldiers a good base before coming out and using the NGSWs,\u201d said Infantryman Sgt. Jack Scott, a team leader in Alpha Company.<\/p>\n

Their training covered the similarities and differences between the new weapons and the legacy 5.56mm M4A1 Carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon systems, focusing on enhanced lethality.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a lot of training with both static and maneuver ranges, so the product of Soldier you get now, during the live fire, is high quality due to all of that training,\u201d added Scott.<\/p>\n

Once complete with new equipment training, Soldiers tested the NGSW in a Limited User Test, or LUT, in a crawl-walk-run method to ensure all operational data is collected on the weapon, as well as user integration with the new equipment.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alpha Company and 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment initially conducted static qualification and variable distance ranges with legacy weapon systems and NGSW, to compare performance of both and give Soldiers repetitions and familiarity with the NGSW.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alpha Company 1st Sgt. Justin Babb appreciated the benefits of participating in an operational test and the opportunity for his junior Soldier\u2019s feedback to contribute and impact Army modernization.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe candid feedback that the Soldiers and NCOs provided during focus groups and surveys will provide the Army with perspective from the lowest level of user that will actually use the system,\u201d said Babb.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Major differences between the legacy M4, M249 systems and the NGSWs were immediately noticeable by the Soldiers.<\/p>\n

Spec. Maximiliano Arguindegui, an automatic rifleman with 1\/75th Ranger Regiment, said, \u201cOverall, I feel faster with the M249, but I prefer the NGSW-AR because it makes me more lethal.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Scott added, \u201cStopping power with the 6.8 round is a big improvement compared to the M4 and M249 and having the ability to use with or without the suppressor is a huge feature for the support by fire element.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders of Alpha Company also said participating in a test with the Operational Test Command enabled them to get after their internal readiness.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alpha Company Commander, Capt. Jordan Mares, said, \u201cBeing a part of the NGSW test absolutely supported our company readiness. The LUT gave us opportunities to hone our craft, practice lessons learned with feedback from subject-matter experts, and the ability to conduct a lot of repetitions to practice small unit tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Staff Sgt. Ivan Alvarez, a Squad Leader with Alpha Company, was initially skeptical of the NGSW.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we first started the LUT, I was very against the NGSW-R,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m used to the M4 \u2014 it\u2019s lighter \u2014 I\u2019m used to the recoil, the engagements, everything the M4 has to offer. But, as we went through the LUT with the NGSW-R, I can see the capabilities that it brings to an infantryman, especially at a longer distance.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alvarez also said testing the new weapons gave his squad added training opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got after a lot of training that we would normally have to wait months to set up and accomplish,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were able to get more marksmanship time, more range time, and were able to train under various environmental conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another squad leader with the Rangers provided his observations on the training benefit while participating in an operational test.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to get reps in on a new weapon system as well as our legacy equipment,\u201d said Sgt. Joseph Martin. \u201cWe were able to train on many basic things that we want to train on every year, but condensed to get more repetitions, as well as live fire iterations for our younger, inexperienced Soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story by Maj. Rodrick A. Polk, test officer, Maneuver Test Directorate, U.S. Army Operational Test Command<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos by Mr. Mark Scovell, Visual Information Specialist, U.S. Army Operational Test Command<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThis entry was posted
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton Monday, December 11th, 2023 at 01:00\t\t\t\t\t\tand is filed under Army<\/a>, Guest Post<\/a>, weapons<\/a>.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tYou can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0<\/a> feed.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYou can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. \u2014 Screaming Eagle Division Soldiers here just completed training and testing the Army\u2019s 6.8mm family of Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle (NGSW-R), NGSW-Automatic Rifle (AR) and the NGSW-Fire Control (FC) systems. Troops of Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and members of 1st Battalion, 75th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-army"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":882,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions\/882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}