No, it's not a prop from "Starship Troopers" or "Aliens". You won't see
it in the hands of stormtroopers in the next "Star Wars" trilogy. It's
the new personal weapon for US troops, and you should start seeing much
more of it - especially around 2005, when it will begin to enter
service a year after the F-22.
AAI Corporation Photo
While sim fans may have drooled over the ATF competition
between the YF-22 and YF-23 prototypes, few may be aware that recently
a similar competition took place between two potent candidates for
America's next standard-issue infantry weapon.
The current US assault rifle - the M16 - was developed to take
advantage of evolving technologies and changing battlefield
requirements since the introduction of the M1 Garand. Using a smaller
5.56mm round, shorter barrel, and some lightweight plastic furniture,
the M16 and a typical load of ammo weighed the same as an unloaded M1.
However, the M16 has always had something of a love/hate
relationship with troops. Perhaps its most endearing quality is its
light weight and ease-of-use. Shooting accurately with the M16 at up to
medium range is much easier to learn than with the M1 Garand. The M1
had better range and accuracy, but it didn't forgive any sloppiness.
The M16 did display some poor habits that had to be dealt
with. For starters, the lightweight barrel has a reputation for poor
tolerance to heat buildup from long bursts of automatic fire.
(Supposedly this was the reason for the three-round burst restriction
on newer models.) The gas system can permit all kinds of fouling in the
bore to reach directly back to the receiver, right where the most
delicate moving parts are located. Additionally, the narrow gas tube
itself is prone to clogging - either problem resulting in weapon
malfunctions. To keep it operating smoothly, the M16 must be
meticulously cleaned and maintained.
Over time, US forces have examined various alternates. Many of
the worthy candidates were European in origin, ranging from companies
as diverse as Steyr, Sig-Sauer, Heckler & Koch, Fabrique Nationale,
and others. There has been talk of an intense resistance to use
anything other than a domestic design, however, and it is rumored that
for this reason, American forces have remained with newer variants of
the M16 over the years.
The Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) program was
developed to take advantage of improvements in matierials, ammunition,
electronic, and firearms technologies. The change is in some ways
evolutionary and in others revolutionary. In this author's opinion, it
has the potential to revolutionize the way infantry battles are fought.
AAI Corporation Photo
Two companies - Alliant Techsystems and AAI Corporation - both
with distinguished track records in developing military systems -
created prototypes for a technology demonstration. Despite approaching
the design issues somewhat differently, both rifles have a nearly
identical feature list that is simply amazing.
The OICW is a two barreled over-under weapon that includes a
5.56mm select-fire rifle of fairly conventional design with an advanced
semi-auto 20mm bullpup magazine-fed grenade launcher. What that
mouthful of terms translates to is that it's a 2-in-1 weapon like the
M16/M203 combination, although that's about where the similarities end.
Among many other things, the M203 is only a single-shot weapon and uses
a separate trigger - little more than a grafted-on grenade launcher
rather than an integrated weapon.
Alliant Techsystems Photo
Many things that were impractical or impossible for the average
soldier will be fairly casual for the OICW-equipped units. Enemy
soldiers hiding in prepared posititions won't pose nearly the same
threat to the advance of light infantry units than in the past. The
OICW has a laser rangefinder that will make compensating for bullet
drop much easier for the soldier.
More importantly, it send the exact range information to the
grenade launcher. The launcher sets the fuse on the grenade for an
airburst detonation at the exact range - right over trenches, just
inside buildings, or perhaps directly at the entrance to a bunker. The
warhead case is designed to produce fragments potent enough to even
defeat PASGT body armor. Precision fusing and an airburst effect - a
potent combination against a dug-in enemy.
Nighttime fighting has always been a problem for the common
soldier. Engaging targets is very difficult at night for anything but
very short range. Normal optical scopes become useless in low-light
conditions. Infrared rifle scopes do exist, but their need for special
cooling makes them uncommon, expensive, and heavy. The OICW features an
infrared scope that operates without cooling, making it light and
simple enough to be a standard feature (or at least an easily added
module).
The OICW also possesses a data-link port. Exactly what kind of
data will be fed through the port is unclear, but it seems reasonable
to assume that a video signal from the infrared sight can be sent. This
could allow the soldier to use his rifle like a periscope in dangerous
situations and even allow aimed fire over trenches or around corners
without risking exposure.
Alliant Techsystems Photo
While both candidates are very impressive, the Alliant
Techsystems entry eventually was selected for development. The choice
of the Alliant entry is very interesting, because the physical weapon
is built by Heckler and Koch. Not counting the ammunition, fire
control, and total weapon integration, this appears to be the first
time the standard US infantryman's rifle will have foreign origins.
The rifle section of the Alliant OICW is based on the
brand-new HK G36. The G36 represents something of a departure for the
Oberndorf-based company. With the exception of the USP service pistol
and the super-exotic MP2000 submachinegun, HK guns have used a
roller-locking delayed-blowback system with a fluted chamber for many
years. This eliminated the need for a gas tube and allowed the gun to
operate effectively even under very severe conditions. The company's
strategy was simply to re-scale the size of the components as necessary
for whatever type of gun they wanted to produce. The weapons were
simple, robust, and cost-effective, but some had a tendency to be on
the porky side.
In the case of the G36, HK has switched to gas-operation, but
are using a piston in the gas tube to prevent fouling of the tube or
receiver. The new design should prove to be much lighter than previous
HK weapons of the same caliber. The OICW version should in turn be
lighter than the G36, which brings up an interesting point. It's
usually pointless to compare a rifle/GL combination to a rifle when it
comes to weight.
In the case of the Alliant OICW, the weapon can be split into its
component rifle and grenade launcher sections and used standalone -
each with its own sights, grips, and magazines. This may not be the
kind of design element that "old school" soldiers like to hear about.
The old M16 curse of the "Mattel rifle" may be brought back on the
OICW, but if the interface is built ruggedly enough, this kind of
flexibility would be a boon, allowing it to replace the M4 carbine,
M16, and M203 with one modular system at a single stroke.
Also interesting is the cyclic rate. The G36 mechanism can
handle a burst rate of 750 rounds/min. For reference that puts it at
about 25% faster than an M60 machine gun and 25% slower than the
obscene rate of the MAC10 submachinegun. It would be interesting to
find if the 100-round clip of the G36 is compatible with the OICW. If
so, even the SAW may no longer be necessary in OICW-equipped units. In
either case, the fact is that the G36 has been very well received so
far, getting accolades for reliability and controllability in field
tests and already scoring large-scale orders from the Bundeswehr. This
bodes well for the real-world performance of the OICW rifle.
In an age where downsizing forces and growing logistical tails
require the fighting infantry to do more with less, the OICW promises
to greatly magnify the combat effectiveness of the individual soldier.
