http://www.janes.com/defence/land_forces/news/jdw/jdw000815_1_n.shtml 15/08/00 US Army approves revolutionary infantry weapon ANDREW KOCH JDW Staff Reporter Washington DC The US Army has given approval for the formal acquisition programme of its next generation infantry weapon. The army gave a team headed by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) a $95 million contract for programme definition and risk-reduction (PDRR) of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW), fielding of which is expected to begin in Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09). Under a new programme schedule, revised last March, the OICW will not be ready for deployment to the initial units that will receive the service's integrated Land Warrior individual combat system. Army officials expect to begin fielding the Land Warrior no later than FY07. The OICW is intended to be the primary weapon for close combat infantry units, replacing some M16 series 5.56mm assault rifles, M4 5.56mm carbines and M203 40mm grenade launchers. Under existing plans, the army will equip four members of a nine-strong infantry squad with the OICW. As part of the risk-reduction efforts, ATK will build five full prototypes before the programme enters engineering and manufacturing development in FY04. According to Barbara Moldowney, the army's assistant product manager for OICW, the weapon will be redesigned and additional capabilities added during PDRR. These include a laser rangefinder, digital camera, combat identification system, integrated thermal fire control and laser illuminator. Pre-planned production improvements (P3I), including the use of multifunctional lasers are also being considered for the weapon, Moldowney added. ATK business development manager Tom Bierman said improved battery technology is another area for possible P3I upgrades. Live fire tests of the redesigned weapon are due to be conducted at Aberdeen Proving Grounds at the end of FY03. The OICW will be capable of firing both standard 5.56mm kinetic-energy ammunition as well as a new 20mm high-explosive airbursting round that the army is describing as a revolutionary advancement because it can attack concealed targets with greater precision at 1,000m. The electronic fire-control system, built by Brashear, will have a laser rangefinder that can transmit data directly to the fuse in the 20mm airbursting round. The programme has suffered setbacks and criticisms that the weapon is not rugged enough, is too heavy and overly expensive. The largest setback came in September 1999 when a 20mm round detonated in the OICW's barrel, injuring two personnel (Jane's Defence Weekly 3 Nov 1999). That problem has now been fixed and live-fire tests will be held in October 2001 to prove those solutions, programme officials added. The officials said that reducing the weapon's weight remains the largest technical hurdle to overcome. The weapon's weight currently stands at 8.17kg, but is expected to be reduced to 6.81kg by the end of PDRR and to a maximum of 6.36kg before entering production. All of these weights include eight rounds of ammunition in the magazine, ATK said. The army is expected to buy 20,000-40,000 weapons for an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 per unit. That, critics say, is expensive compared to the M16's cost of $586. However, Beirman argues, the OICW offers five times the effectiveness of an M16 mounted with an M203 grenade launcher and requires fewer munitions to be fired while providing greater survivability and reduced life-cycle costs. -- ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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