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  4. First National Guard Unit Gets Hands on Next Generation Squad Weapons, Navy Next?

A North Carolina unit is the first in the National Guard to field test the new SIG Sauer-made XM7 and the XM250, which is replacing the M4/M4A1 carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, respectively.

The 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, a National Guard outfit that carries the "Old Hickory" lineage of the World War I & II era infantry division of the same number, earlier this month conducted a qualification table range session with the Army's Next Generation Squad Weapon platforms at Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), North Carolina.

The unit is the first in the Guard to receive the XM7 and XM250, just months after the first regular Army unit, the famed 101st Airborne Division, began receiving their NGSWs.
 

30th Armored Brigade Combat Team member shooting NGSW on range
A soldier of the 30th ABCT, a North Carolina Army National Guard unit, with the XM7 on the range at Fort Liberty earlier this month. (Photo: Cpl. Nigel Hatcher/U.S. Army)
30th Armored Brigade Combat Team member shooting NGSW on range
The Next Generation Squad Weapon Rifle (NGSW-R), the XM7, is a modular, piston-driven, select-fire, magazine-fed, 6.8mm rifle set to replace the M4/M4A1 carbine within the Close Combat Force. It uses a fire control system by Vortex and a suppressor by SIG. The rifle is based on SIG's MCX Spear platform. (Photo: Cpl. Nigel Hatcher/U.S. Army)
NGSW at U.S. Army Cold Regions Test Center at Fort Greely Alaska
The Next Generation Squad Weapon – Automatic Rifle (NGSW-AR), the XM250, is a lightweight, belt-fed, light machine gun with a collapsible buttstock. Seen here during evaluations at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Test Center at Fort Greely Alaska earlier this year. It utilizes the same Vortex-made fire control optics device as the XM7 rifle. (Photo: Sebastian Saarloos/U.S. Army)

 

"Weapon advancements such as the NGSW ensures that units under our command have the best weapons possible," said Colonel Paul Hollenack, 30th ABCT Commander. "The fielding of the XM7 and XM250 is a step in making sure that we are doing just that."
 

Navy Brass Visits SIG


Admiral Daryl Caudle, commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, toured SIG Sauer's new Academy and SIG Experience Center in Newington, New Hampshire, earlier this month. Images released by the Pentagon show Caudle and staff inspecting the state-of-the-art facility, where over 480,000 M17 and M18 handguns have been produced for the military thus far. 

 

Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, at SIG Sauer
Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, is escorted by Mr. Ron Goslin, SIG Sauer's Chief Operating Officer, during a leadership meeting and tour at the company's facility in Newington, New Hampshire, June 10. (Photo: DOD)
Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, at SIG Sauer
Adm. Caudle poses for a photo with Ron Cohen, SIG Sauer Chief Executive Officer, June 10. (Photo: DOD)
Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, at SIG Sauer
He was also seen inspecting NGSW platforms. (Photo: DOD)

 

Caudle, 60, is a career naval officer who not only serves as the head of the Fleet Forces Command but also the U.S. Naval Forces Northern Command; U.S. Naval Forces Strategic Command; and the U.S. Strategic Command Joint Force Maritime Component Commander.

As far back as 2020, Marine Corps officials said the service had plans to partner with the Army to procure the Next-Generation Squad Weapon system, intended to replace the 5.56 NATO-caliber HK-produced M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, to become the primary individual weapon for infantry units, with deliveries occurring as early as 2025. 

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