1. Even if steel base + washer + brass body is not so expensive, it also would need a good number of resources in order to make it viable at the manufacturing line. Would such resources be more at hand rather than go to steel only?

2. Is there any clear indication than bimetallic .277 is not going to be the final case for the cartridge? Are there any hints of a less powerful GP variant? 

3. I would assume that any polymer case should reduce slightly the propellant volume. Maybe a less long GP round would compensate it, or maybe it also would pointed out to the direction of reducing muzzle energy since COAL is already be written on stone

Reportedly, some Rangers already getting NGSW:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryPorn/comments/10a2g7j/rangers_of_the_4th_ranger_training_battalion/

One Reddit poster said the photo is from a "Rangers in Action" demonstration at Ranger School graduation.

Both soldiers are posed taking a knee, likely participating in a skit like https://youtu.be/fDw-aYTBghc?t=1545

Interestingly, the Ranger School instructor with XM5 does not appear to have any 6.8 mags or mag pouches.

I would expect that the new rifle will be in limited issue to some units to take to the field and shake the bugs out of the design. 

Better to have troops use it in training and see what problems there are than issue it to troops in the middle of a war. Seems like the U.S. did that in the 1960s.

17thfabn said:

Better to have troops use it in training and see what problems there are than issue it to troops in the middle of a war. Seems like the U.S. did that in the 1960s

Quite true, it would be good to find out the kinks now rather than waiting for paratroopers defending Taiwan to discover them. 

stancrist said:

Interestingly, the Ranger School instructor with XM5 does not appear to have any 6.8 mags or mag pouches.

The second Ranger is so out of focus, I didn't notice before that he not only has no ammo belt containers for his XM250, but the weapon also curiously lacks an XM157 FCS...

Good catch. I think it being a promo photo is the likely explanation then.

Your comment reminded me of a statement made by one of the soldiers from the battle of Mogadishu.  The rescue convoy did not provide enough vehicles to carry all of them out, so some soldiers who were out of ammo had to run behind the vehicles while trying to look fierce and indestructible.  It sounds a little fishy to me (no ammo), but makes a great story.

I haven't heard the no ammo part but "the Mogadishu mile" itself definitely happened.

From my understanding the convoy of vehicles that actually came out to bring the guys back came out extremely heavy though and was more than willing to apply liberal amounts of fire to protect the unwounded guys who had to run with the convoy to get out of the shit show.

NOT NGSW, but probably related nonetheless. FN releases to market a new .264USA rifle and machine gun package.

Uses a bimetallic casing, like SIG. Designed to be suppressed most of the time. Otherwise is a fairly conventional Tri-Lug Long Stroke Gas Piston rifle. In the vein of the Robinson XCR.  7-9lbs, claimed 20% ammo weight savings vs an equivalent conventional brass cartridge.

The original request was put out back in 2018, this TFB article covers it as the original page seems to have went down.

files.catbox.moe

Interesting stuff, I suppose.