{"id":57156,"date":"2023-12-04T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=57156"},"modified":"2023-12-06T00:18:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T00:18:28","slug":"next-generation-squad-weapons-tested-by-rangers-infantry-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=57156","title":{"rendered":"Next Generation Squad Weapons tested by Rangers, Infantry Soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Two infantrymen with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), receive instruction on the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle Fire Control system during New Equipment Training while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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\n An infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), installs the suppressor on the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle during New Equipment Training while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. \u2014 Screaming Eagle Division Soldiers at Fort Knox just completed training and testing the Army\u2019s 6.8mm family of Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle, NGSW-Automatic Rifle and the NGSW-Fire Control 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

“The 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

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\n An infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), executes Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense (CBRN defense) day qualification with the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle and Fire Control while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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\n An infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), fires the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Automatic Rifle during the buddy team live fire exercise while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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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

\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

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

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\n An infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), fires the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle during the squad live fire (blank iteration) exercise while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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An infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), conducts familiarization fire with the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Automatic Rifle during New equipment Training while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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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

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, “Overall, I feel faster with the M249, but I prefer the NGSW-AR because it makes me more lethal.”<\/p>\n

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\n An infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), engages targets with the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Automatic Rifle during buddy team live fire while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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\n An infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), engages targets with the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Automatic Rifle during buddy team live fire, while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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Scott added, “Stopping 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.”<\/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

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\u00a0practice small unit tactics.”<\/p>\n

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\n Infantrymen with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), executes squad live fire, while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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\n A Ranger with the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment engages targets during squad live fire (blank iteration), while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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Staff Sgt. Ivan Alvarez, a Squad Leader with Alpha Company, was initially skeptical of the NGSW.<\/p>\n

“When we first started the LUT, I was very against the NGSW-R,\u201d he said. \u201cI’m used to the M4 \u2014 it’s lighter \u2014 I’m 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.”<\/p>\n

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

“We 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.”<\/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

\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501\u2501<\/p>\n

About the U.S. Army Operational Test Command:<\/p>\n

As the Army\u2019s only independent operational tester, OTC tests Army, joint, and multi-service warfighting systems in realistic operational environments, using typical Soldiers to determine whether the systems are effective, suitable, and survivable. OTC is required by public law to test major systems before they are fielded to its ultimate customer \u2014 the American Soldier.<\/p>\n

The Maneuver Test Directorate, based at West Fort Cavazos, Texas, is OTC\u2019s lead directorate for conducting independent operational testing of Infantry, Armor, and robotic systems to inform acquisition and fielding decisions for the Army and select joint Warfighting systems. Poised, ready, and always able, MTD is the \u201cgo to\u201d test directorate to provide Army Futures Command and senior Army leadership with truthful test feedback they need to make informed decisions as to what capabilities will be brought to bear against future adversaries in a Multi-Domain Battle environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Two infantrymen with 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment (Strike Force), 2nd Brigade (Strike), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (Screaming Eagles), receive instruction on the Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle Fire Control system during New Equipment Training while operationally testing at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57017,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57156"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57159,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57156\/revisions\/57159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}