Now that there are a lot of rumors that the Textron lads are out here's my divine predictions for the NGSW :

1) the new, glorious NGSW rifle selected is...drum roll pls...M4 carbine and M249 courtesy of the big bois, FN and Colt (with "further testing" of those "snuzzles" and maybe partial adoption of TV ammo because I'm feeling optimistic). the army then conveniently says that the ngsw rifles were "too expensive" or "didn't justify its cost" or some bs.

2) SIG "improves certain aspects" of their mcx spear and milks some money. radio silence on the mg338 for at least 1-2 months (maximum being they say nothing about it).

3) General Dynamics and Textron give dry, corporate responses. 

4) TV becomes the new hotshot in the ammo market. 

5) Karl and Ian then have like a QnA about it. Karl tests 6.8mm. Ian makes a NGSW documentary on the guns after some time.
other youtubers will go like "ZAMN 6.8 OPPEEEE" as they blast some watermelons for the billionth fucking time. this trend lasts for a max of 9 months.

alternate ending (slim chance) :

they give a fuck about the NGSW and choose a type of ammo (probably TV) and redoes the show but this time the companies only make guns. (as per the wise words of some guy here who I forgot the name of). KAC LAMG participates maybe?


I strongly feel this will end up like the xm8, oicw etc etc because of politics (how predictable).

Bruh...

GD has scrubbed it because Lonestar also got the lwmmg IP and is now sig's competitor. 

Tfb covered this the other day and Lonestar themselves said that this is what's happening.

Lonestar which is now owned by true velocity btw.

In addition to this, the patents GD novated to Lonestar for ngsw also cover the LWMMG 

Edit: also there's still quite a bit of doubt as to whether a 338 MG will even get bought at this point considering that 338 would need all new ammo to even reliably pop body armor at extended ranges.

The LAMG and AMG are unfortunately fatally flawed and entirely unsuitable in their current forms for mass issue because they'll have some pretty severe service life problems (in addition to making FN belt feds look affordable lol)

Though, I think fixing them would probably be easier and if opened up to other contractors for production could definitely be substantially cheaper than the FN evolys.

What's extremely unfortunate is that 40+ years of extremely poor army decision making wrt belt feds has left us in a position where we now have very few choices.

I'll be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing the super sized ares mcr the Turks are now making in 308 get tested along with the few poor choices we have.

Being even more honest I'd love to see a Lonestar and Barrett Collab using Barrett's LWS version of their 240L entry as a potential temporary placeholder gun until we can spin up better belt feds for high pressure neckless TV.

fellas, do you guys think 6.8 can penetrate the new spetsnaz body armour?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pYKMIUoWlk

have you heard of the 17 incinerator......a 30grain bullet at 6000fps from, a 50BMG case

Incinerator sounds like a tongue in cheek description of the aerodynamic heating suffered by the bullet.

What's the complete name, Barrel Incinerator?

Another look at the 6.8 Raptor concept by SIG:

-May serve as PDW

-18-20" version also being developed 

YouTube

US Army Prototype NGSW 6.8mm Raptor - All You Need to Know

This is a very unusual full powered battle rifle with an impossibly short barrel. Find out how this US Army prototype M4 replacement is able to achieve a hig...

At 6:37, there is a NGSW Update:

-plan to select NGSW winner Jan 2022 (aka next month)

-T&P Reports from 'highly placed source' that Textron weapons and ammo 'Failed to reach requirements of the Army' 

So, the US Army "could" not only replace the M4 & M249 in the infantry role (the goal of the NGSW program - and keep the M4 for the PDW role), but also finally replace all & every M4 in service, even for non-infantry purpose... that's an interesting move.

EmericD said:

So, the US Army "could" not only replace the M4 & M249 in the infantry role (the goal of the NGSW program - and keep the M4 for the PDW role), but also finally replace all & every M4 in service, even for non-infantry purpose... that's an interesting move

It could be a possibility. 

The issue to me is one of suppressors. 

-The Raptor unsupressed is very short (~Krinkov) but will be tremendously, possibly dangerously, loud. 

-The Raptor with suppressor (unless its the Brevis) will end up with a length comparable to the M4, making its PDW benefits dubious, especially when the added weight vs M4 + 20rd mags are factored in