Winchester to assist in developing new 6.8 mm Next Generation Squad Weapon cartridge

The future of NATO firepower is here ... maybe.

On January 3, the US government announced it was handing a $20 million contract to Winchester Ammunition to help develop the 6.8mm Next Generation Squad Weapon cartridge (NGSW). This is part of a massive, multi-year, multi-competitor plan to come up with a replacement for the US military's 5.56mm rifle cartridge that it's used since the 1960s, with widespread adoption by Canada and other NATO allies.

It seems that Winchester's role in development is focused on figuring out how to manufacture the new cartridge, as other companies are still fielding competing plans to determine the actual design. Currently, SIG Sauer is offering a hybrid polymer/metal-cased round, while True Velocity has partnered with General Dynamics to offer a polymer-cased round. Textron also made a bid, proposing a weirdo telescopic cased ammunition, but some sources report that bid has been withdrawn.

Whenever the cartridge design is finally picked, Winchester will help by figuring out how to produce the new ammunition at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Missouri. Winchester has managed this government-owned ammunition factory for the past two years, and had previously managed it in the past as well. The Lake City ammo plant isn't just a production factory; it's also a testing ground for ammunition.

Winchester's contract runs for several more years, so it stands to reason it will help out with the early years of manufacturing, not just planning, as long as the new 6.8mm cartridge is adopted. To be clear, the US military has been dithering on this move for many years, and despite the wheels of bureaucracy moving in the right direction, there's no guarantee the government will actually make this happen in a remotely timely fashion. Remember, along with choosing a new ammunition round, the US is also working on new automatic weapon designs, to replace both squad automatic weapons and individual soldiers' assault rifles.

What it means for us

It's all very interesting to see the US working on new military hardware, but what does it mean for Canada?

It seems likely that sooner or later, the Canadian military would follow the US in adopting this cartridge, along with the rest of NATO ... if NATO exists as a functional alliance within a few years. The US has shouldered the vast bulk of NATO spending in recent years, and other member countries may be reluctant to abandon 5.56mm ammo stockpiles and weapons, to switch. Certainly, there's a long historic precedent of the US using a different cartridge and weapon design than the rest of NATO. From the adoption of the M16 rifle until the 1980s, much of NATO was still armed with other rifle designs chambered in 7.62x51.

For civilian shooters, chances are we'll get our hands on the cartridge long before the military does, using it for precision shooting and hunting in coming years, once the firearms industry builds civilian rifles chambered in the cartridge.