The lightweight small-arms. Technologies. L SAT program, is funded by the u.s. joint service, small arms program with, the goal of significantly, reducing. The weight of small arms and their ammunition. Following. A series of military programs. To investigate, advances. In small arms spi W future, rifle ACR. Oh I see W the L SAT program, is the US military's, latest, project, to replace existing u.s., small arms. Tactical. Concepts. And the research from the previous, small arms programs, indicates, that lightenings small arms, is the first significant. Step towards, increasing, soldier's, lethality and survivability. Initiated. In 2004. Then, called the lightweight machine, gun and ammunition program. Development, is now led by Textron. Development. Began with two types of weight reducing, ammunition, and a light machine gun to serve as a testbed and technology, demonstrator. Minimization. Of program, risk is shown by the development. Of the lower performing, but less risky, polymer, cased ammunition alongside, caseless. Ammunition which, falls higher in both criteria, by the use of extensive. Computer simulations. Before prototyping. And by the use of existing, and proven technologies. Such, as the high ignition temperature, propellant. H ITP, developed. For the heckler & koch g11, in. 2008. The, program had achieved working. Prototypes. For the polymer cased ammunition and, the LMG, which were tested by the army in 2012. The. Less orthodox, caseless, ammunition and, a rifle firing both types of ammunition have, also been developed, the. Designers, aim to provide further projectile. Improvements. Including, greener bullets, and a more lethal caliber, as well as the use of electronics. Such, as rounds, counters, and lasers, for sighting target, acquisition and, steering, after, further research and development, into both ammunition. Types and the weapons that fire them one of the two shall be chosen for production, in. August, 2013. AAI corporation now. Textron, was awarded, a contract to, continue development, of both case, telescoped, and caseless, ammunition. Topic. Background. The, lightweight small-arms. Technologies, program is the culmination, of much research and information, obtained by the US Army it. Succeeds. Several, other programs, to develop new, small arms technologies. Each program, of which produced, results that were infeasible or insignificant. The. First three the special-purpose, individual. Weapon, the future rifle program and, the advanced combat, rifle program, demonstrated. The ballistic, problems, of flesh at ammunition, and the ACR, program, also showed the inability of kinetic, energy firearms. To significantly, compensate. For human inaccuracy, the small accuracy, increase of all of the concepts, tested was outweighed by the trade-offs, required, the. Subsequent, identification of. Programmable, air bursting, munitions, is the only way to significantly. Increase accuracy. Was, followed by the fourth and most recent, cancelled, program the. OIC W, program, the. Ability to detonate, an explosive in. The air at range provided, a huge increase in accuracy. But the resultant, XM 29, proved, too heavy to use the. Separation, of the XM 29, into the xm25, and. The XM 8 provided. No long-term solution. To the weight problem, and the program, was suspended indefinitely. Developments. In lighter weapons, such, as LS 80 could, see a return to the concept although the military has not recently, expressed a desire for, a return, the. Indefinite, suspension of, the program, sounded, the death of short-term, advances, in infantry, weapon lethality and, indicated. The shift to other projects. After. The failure to significantly. Improve firearms. Of the near future the US military, is using the development, of other infantry, equipment, to improve the effectiveness of, the soldier, most. Notable, is the development, of electronics, and information technology, to advance soldiers. Awareness, and communications. As with the land warrior program, however. This, new equipment increases. The weight burden, on the soldier, who then has to strike a compromise between, the extra, equipment and mobility. Reducing. The weight of infantry, equipment, allows for more mobile better-equipped troops. Since. A soldier's, weapon and ammunition or a large portion, of his total burden and available, technologies, exist to sharply lighten, them reducing, the weight of the two is crucial, to increasing, the amount of advanced, technology, a soldier, can carry. Computer. Technologies, integrated. Into the weapon and its sights make a light weapon crucial, otherwise the soldier will have difficulty, carrying, the weapon and it's heavy sights, other.
Indirect. Improvements. In soldier, effectiveness. Include, new strategies, and the development, of air transport. This. Is aimed towards creating, fast, well, equipped soldiers able, to be quickly deployed to counter threats, the. Logistics, and mobility problems, of heavy equipment hinder. This possibility. The. LSA t program. Allows a vast reduction in, soldiers, carrying loads thereby, allowing new and more equipment, reducing. Logistical, strain and increasing, mobility, the. Combined benefits. To soldier effectiveness. Are big enough to warrant the investment, in the new lightweight technologies. Topic. Technologies. The existence, of weight reducing, technologies. Made the L SAT program feasible. And many of these technologies, can, be seen in the program's products. The. Lightest, existing, ammunition, to fire standard, bullets comprised, caseless, varieties, the. Heckler & koch g11 was the only weapon to achieve a service, capable, assault rifle, firing caseless, ammunition. It's. Unique, ammunition. Designed, by dynamic, noble introduced. Several important. Innovations. Such as improved, internal, ballistics. Through the use of a primer and the prevention of cooking off the lack of a case makes it easier for a hot chamber to ignite the exposed, propellant, through the use of the less sensitive, HEC sahjhan oxygen, as the explosive, component. The. Advanced, combat rifle experimental. Program, gave the US Army access, to the ammunition and, entrench the ammunition as a viable option, with. The high efficiency, and lethality of the ammunition the, vast expenditure, such, a concept, had needed for development. The reduced risk of using an already proven. Ammunition, design the L SAT program, chose, a licensed. Version of dynamic, nobles caseless, ammunition as, a route towards, its goal of weight reduction, the. L SAT program, also, uses, the same concept of a rotating chamber, as the g11 albeit. The L SAT LMG. Chamber, swings around a longitudinal, pivot, whereas the g11 chamber. Rotated, around the horizontal, axis at it's very center. Polymer. Casing, for ammunition, had already been, developed and produced and, it provided the second route for achieving weight reduction. While. A polymer, case could never be quite as light as no case the, risks involved in the use of polymer ammunition, were less due to its similarity, to present ammunition. And the reduced heat load on both the weapon and the a munitions, propellant, further budding, technologies. Such, as alternative, barrel materials, such, as ceramics, and the increased, efficiency, and size reduction.
Of Telescoped, ammunition used, by the g11 and, other developmental, weapons, also formed, the basis, for the L SAT program. Topic. Program. In. 2004. The joint service, small arms, program created. The lightweight, machine gun and ammunition program. To compare conceptual. Lightweight, machine guns and ammunition designs. By two teams, of companies, the. Team of aides led by AAI corporation had. Their design chosen over the design of the General Dynamics LED, team in. 2005. The project, was replaced with the lightweight small, arms technologies, program to place the emphasis on developing, technologies. For a wide range of small arms the. Earlier lightweight, family, of weapons and ammunition concept. Is visible in the new program, the. Cohesive, team of companies, is combined, with government, support to ensure success, in accordance, with the program's, name the focus, is on creating lightweight. Technologies. For all small arms, and the light machine gun it has started, with is an entry point for a family of lightweight, small arms and ammunition. Beginning. With an LMG, is unusual, for an effort to develop a new family of weapons although, the increased, engineering. Difficulty, of a machine gun over a rifle, is balanced, against decreased attention, and antagonistic, scrutiny. The. Program, minimized, development. Risk it used g11, technology, that had been on the verge of deployment, and the parallel development. Of the composite, cased and caseless, ammunition meant, that if the caseless, ammunition effort, succeeded much, of the development, work gained with the composite cased weapon, could be applied to it and if it failed the composite, cased version, was likely to succeed on its own this. Parallel, development. Involves, using what is essentially, the same weapon, for both types of ammunition with, the same action, having only marginal, differences, such as added, chamber, sealing technologies, required, for the caseless, firing, version, and the same weight lowering, technologies. The. Program, uses, extensive, computer simulation. And modeling particularly. Of the weapon action, this. Reduces, both time and expenditure. For prototyping and, testing the. Program, also uses, a spiral, development approach. Whereby, the weapon, and ammunition is, rolled out in stages or spirals. Stage producing, a new version that is an improvement on those from previous, spirals. The. L SAT program, uses. A clean slate design, and had no requirements. Imposed on abiding, by contemporary. Ammunition, and weapons standards. Despite. This the program is using the m855. 5.56. X 45. Millimetres, round to provide comparison. With existing weapons. The. Program has listed scalability. Of the ammunition caliber, as a requirement, and its pursuit of a very light company machine, gun would require a larger round therefore. The program seems, set towards, a more accurate harder. Hitting round such as the six point five millimeters, Grendel, or six point eight millimeters, remington spc the. Program has set itself weight reduction, goals over the existing m249. And, its ammunition, of 35%, for the weapon and 40% for, the ammunition. Further. Goals to improve battlefield. Effectiveness. Have also been set improved, lethality, improved. Controllability. Through, recoil, reduction etc. Improved, ergonomics improved. Reliability and. Maintainability. Integration. Of electronics, and equivalent. Cost and produce ability, to the existing, weapon and ammunition. Topic. Achievements. By. 2008. The program, had made tremendous progress, with, all of its goals either fully achieved, or with strong potential, for achievement.
Topic. Light, machine, gun. The, LMGs, built made a 47%. And 43%. Reduction of, weight for the caseless, weapon, and cased telescoped weapons. Respectively. The. More complex, chamber, sealing mechanism, of the caseless, weapons, somewhat increases, its weight compared, to the composite cased weapon. Secondary. Goals have also been met the LMG, has the potential to improve battlefield. Effectiveness. Due to its simpler, and more consistent. Weapon action, its lightweight and low recoil and, its stiffer barrel its use of recoil compensation, with, a long-stroke gas system, for example has, produced, positive feedback. Regarding, controllability. The simpler mechanism of the LMG, is both more reliable, and easier to maintain a, rounds counter, has been integrated, to improve maintainability and. The weapon is capable of accepting other electronic. Devices improved. Materials, used in the chamber, and Barrel have reduced heat load on the weapon and the weapon cost, is equivalent, to the existing, m249. The. LMG, design is a traditionally. Non bullpup, laid out machine gun it, has, many of the capabilities, of other light machine guns such, as a quick-change barrel a vented, fore grip belt fed ammunition. An ammunition pouch, and a roughly 600. Revolutions, per minute rate, of fire, new. Features, include, the unique, weight of 9.2. Pounds, for CT, and 9.9. Pounds, for CL a rounds counter, and a highly stiffened, heat-resistant. Barrel achieved with fluting, and special, materials. Possibly. The most radical part, is its firing action the, weapon uses a swinging, chamber, the. Chamber swings. Around a longitudinal. Pivot, its wings from horizontally. Parallel with the pivot the firing, position to, vertically, parallel, the feed position, and back again a long. Stroke, gas piston is, used to operate this, action, a round. Is fed into the chamber, at the feed position, using a rammer and the new round also serves, to push a spent, or dud round out of the far end of the chamber, such. Rounds, are pushed forward parallel. To the barrel and they slide into a separate, mechanism that ejects them out of one side of. The, advantages. Of this whole action include, its simplicity, its isolation. Of the chamber, from barrel heat and its positive control, of round movement, from extraction, to rejection in the. Caseless firing, version, of the weapon another, mechanism is introduced, to seal the chamber during firing which is why the caseless, weapon is heavier. Topic. Assault. Rifle. Design. Of an L SAT battle. Rifle, began in 2008. Halfway. Into 2008. The designs are nearing completion. The. Rifle, designs are made to use the same cartridge, as developed, for the LMG, and this means separate, rifles, are being designed for the cased and caseless, cartridges. Design.
Began With 17, concepts. After the concepts, were investigated. And trade-offs were analyzed only two remained for the cased round and two for the caseless round, the. Concepts. Involve two magazine, approaches, both of which are focused on high-capacity one. Uses the standard approach of placing, inside the magazine Springs, that feed rounds, into the weapon, the other uses, a weapon powered, approach, presumably. To reduce the extra, weight and space, that springs create in magazines, if, any, of the rifle designs use, the same swinging, chamber mechanism, as the LMG, they should be well suited, to a bullpup layout since, the forward ejection, of the push through feed and ejection, mechanism could, easily be extended to achieve full ambidexterity. Which is a problematic, absence, in most Bullpups. Even. In other configurations. The push through mechanism, lends itself very well to ambidexterity. The, g11 demonstrates. This, the. Rifle, designs are undergoing the same simulated. Structural. And kinematic. Analyses, as the LMG, on the. 14th, of May 2014. Textron, Systems was awarded, a two-year, 5.7. Million dollars, contract, for work that included, development, of a carbine, firing, cased telescoped ammunition. Topic. Ammunition. The, cylindrical, shape of the ammunition is crucial, to the weapons straight-through, feed an ejection system, and that is the similar shape of the case telescoped, ammunition to, the caseless, telescoped, ammunition that, allows the parallel, development. Of the two weapon, systems. Telescoped. Ammunition z' most notable, benefits, include, the greater propulsive. Effectiveness. Of a telescope roundover standard, ammunition and, the shorter, feed and action times allowed by the shorter, length of a telescope round, both the cased and caseless, designs, are roughly 30% shorter. If the. Weapon and ammunition proved, superior to existing, weapons, a new caliber may be chosen, an. Intermediate. Round with characteristics. Similar to the six point five millimeters, Creedmoor, is being considered along with the possibility, of using a common round in more roles including, GPMG, and marksman, weapons. While. M855. And, m855a1. Projectiles. Are being used for comparison, and demonstration. Purposes. Consideration. Is being given to using the creation, of lightweight, ammo cases, as a chance to develop an intermediate, caliber, cartridge, which might replace both the 5.56. X. 45. Millimeters. In the 7.62. X, 51, millimeters. Suggested. Characteristics. Of the cartridge, or a six point five millimeters, bullet weighing, 120. Gr that can match the effectiveness, of the 7.62. X, 51, millimeters, at 1,000, meters. You. Topic. Cased. The, cased ammunition is, more advanced, in development, partially, due to the fewer technical difficulties. And the fewer differences with, standard, ammunition, it. Has already reached, the required technology. Readiness level, of 5 as of, 2008. The, cased ammunition has, been tested, for a wide range of operating temperatures. And it has had over 9,000, rounds fired, approximately. 6,500. Rounds. Of spiral, one ammunition, and over 2,000, of spiral, to the. Second, spiral, version, of the cased ammunition produced. A 33%. Weight, reduction, falling, just short of the program, goal while the ongoing, development, of the third spiral, of cased ammunition has, achieved a roughly 40% reduction. The. Third spiral, is also 30 percent, smaller than standard ammunition the. Improvement, by the third spiral, of cased ammunition over, the second spiral, was achieved partially, by compacting, and consolidating. The propellant, thereby, allowing a smaller cartridge, case and round, having. Reached a sufficient technology. Readiness level, the spiral 2 ammunition, is being prepared for a contracted, 2,000, round delivery, the. Cased ammunition has, shown itself as a virtually, risk-free option. With present, and potential ability, grounded, in success, in, addition. Development. Of the cased ammunition, firing. Weapon has significantly. Improved understanding, of, the weapon action and requirements. Cased. Telescoped ammunition.
For, The LS 80 light, machine, gun reached technology. Readiness level, 7 after, 25,000. Rounds were fired in, trials, in 2011. Topic. Caseless. Having. Replicated. Dynamic, Nobles ACR, ammunition. The H ITP, high, ignition temperature, propellant. It, is hexagons oxygen, base to decrease heat sensitivity. Based ammunition. Was modified, to a 5.56. Millimetres. Round. Tests. Proved the a munitions, usability. And development. Of the weapon was advanced, using knowledge gained from the cased ammunition, version. The. Alliant, Techsystems, ammunition. Production team, has reduced the production time, and costs, by reducing from 14, to 2 the number of steps used to complete processing. The. Second, spiral, of caseless, ammunition was, rolled out in 2008. With the necessary, facilities to, produce the ammunition in bulk completed, it. Has vastly, reduced, the weight and volume of standard, ammunition by, 51 percent and, 40 percent respectively. And it has reached the verge of achieving technology. Readiness level, 5 the. Development. Of the third spiral, was also initiated, with the goal of replacing the propellant, binder, with a binder, more environmentally. And cost friendly, it. Also aims to reduce the heat ablation, on the inside of the weapon by modifying, the burn rate of the propellant and, by giving the round an exterior, coating, to absorb or prevent transferred, heat. Benefits. The system, has gained from using the caseless, ammunition go, beyond the unparalleled weight, and volume reduction to for example, the lack of ejected, shells which both improves, the weapons protection, from dirt and removes any need to police, cases after firing, the. Ammo was still in development as of 2012. Topic. See, also. Future. Combat Systems. Future. Force Warrior.
2019-06-07