Army Grants Classification for SIG’s Next-Gen Rifle, Machine Gun

The U.S. Army just passed another milestone for its Next Generation Squad Weapon systems, the M7 rifle and belt-fed M250, officially granting Type Classification - Standard (TC-STD) to the SIG Sauer-made guns.

In military terminology, type classification is the Army’s method of designating the suitability of warfighting materiel as meeting the military’s standards before entering full-scale spending, procurement, and deployment. The process helps streamline integration into the Army’s procurement, inventory, training, and maintenance needs and generally marks the move from development to standardization.

“This approval underscores the U.S. Army’s commitment to equipping our soldiers with next generation lethality to maintain tactical superiority and enhance mission success,” said Steve Rose, executive vice president of Defense Strategies Group, a division of SIG Sauer, in a press release from the company. “The M7 and M250 represent a transformative leap in combat capability.”

XM7 and XM250 — The M7 rifle was adopted to replace the military’s aging 5.56mm NATO M4 carbine. Meanwhile, the M250 bumps the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, which – hold your aging breath, millennials – was adopted all the way back in 1984. Both new firearms are chambered for the 6.8x51mm cartridge, which is meant to significantly increase ground forces’ lethality at range. (Image: SIG Sauer)

The move comes as U.S. Army units like the famed 101st Airborne Division just start to pass the one-year mark for getting their hands on some of the first broadly issued NGSWs following years of trials and testing. It also comes as the Army faces renewed criticism over its selection of the new XM7 rifle.

Criticisms and political headwinds aside, the Army’s adoption of the new type classification suggests it is looking to push full steam ahead with its plans to reequip forces with the new weapon systems.

The U.S. military’s NGSW program kicked off in 2017, with SIG Sauer’s XM7 rifle, previously XM5, and XM250 machine gun gaining contracts after winning adoption in 2022 and going through a 27-month prototype phase. They were redesignated as the M7 and M250 after adoption.

Banner image and original caption: “U.S. Soldiers assigned to the 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment, 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, South Carolina Army National Guard, conduct an Integrated Training Weapons Strategy (ITWS) qualification table for the newly fielded Next Generation Squad Weapon Rifle (NGSW-R) XM7 and Next Generation Squad Weapon Automatic Rifle (NGSW-AR) XM250, during a week-long training event held at Fort Stewart, Georgia, June 20, 2024.” (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Turner Horton)

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