Alliant Techsystems Photo

No, it's not a prop from "Starship Troopers" or "Aliens". You won't see it in the hands of stormtroopers in the next "Star Wars" trilogy. It's the new personal weapon for US troops, and you should start seeing much more of it - especially around 2005, when it will begin to enter service a year after the F-22.

AAI Corporation Photo

While sim fans may have drooled over the ATF competition between the YF-22 and YF-23 prototypes, few may be aware that recently a similar competition took place between two potent candidates for America's next standard-issue infantry weapon.

The current US assault rifle - the M16 - was developed to take advantage of evolving technologies and changing battlefield requirements since the introduction of the M1 Garand. Using a smaller 5.56mm round, shorter barrel, and some lightweight plastic furniture, the M16 and a typical load of ammo weighed the same as an unloaded M1.

However, the M16 has always had something of a love/hate relationship with troops. Perhaps its most endearing quality is its light weight and ease-of-use. Shooting accurately with the M16 at up to medium range is much easier to learn than with the M1 Garand. The M1 had better range and accuracy, but it didn't forgive any sloppiness.

The M16 did display some poor habits that had to be dealt with. For starters, the lightweight barrel has a reputation for poor tolerance to heat buildup from long bursts of automatic fire. (Supposedly this was the reason for the three-round burst restriction on newer models.) The gas system can permit all kinds of fouling in the bore to reach directly back to the receiver, right where the most delicate moving parts are located. Additionally, the narrow gas tube itself is prone to clogging - either problem resulting in weapon malfunctions. To keep it operating smoothly, the M16 must be meticulously cleaned and maintained.

Over time, US forces have examined various alternates. Many of the worthy candidates were European in origin, ranging from companies as diverse as Steyr, Sig-Sauer, Heckler & Koch, Fabrique Nationale, and others. There has been talk of an intense resistance to use anything other than a domestic design, however, and it is rumored that for this reason, American forces have remained with newer variants of the M16 over the years.

The Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) program was developed to take advantage of improvements in matierials, ammunition, electronic, and firearms technologies. The change is in some ways evolutionary and in others revolutionary. In this author's opinion, it has the potential to revolutionize the way infantry battles are fought.

AAI Corporation Photo

Two companies - Alliant Techsystems and AAI Corporation - both with distinguished track records in developing military systems - created prototypes for a technology demonstration. Despite approaching the design issues somewhat differently, both rifles have a nearly identical feature list that is simply amazing.

The OICW is a two barreled over-under weapon that includes a 5.56mm select-fire rifle of fairly conventional design with an advanced semi-auto 20mm bullpup magazine-fed grenade launcher. What that mouthful of terms translates to is that it's a 2-in-1 weapon like the M16/M203 combination, although that's about where the similarities end. Among many other things, the M203 is only a single-shot weapon and uses a separate trigger - little more than a grafted-on grenade launcher rather than an integrated weapon.

Alliant Techsystems Photo

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Many things that were impractical or impossible for the average soldier will be fairly casual for the OICW-equipped units. Enemy soldiers hiding in prepared posititions won't pose nearly the same threat to the advance of light infantry units than in the past. The OICW has a laser rangefinder that will make compensating for bullet drop much easier for the soldier.

More importantly, it send the exact range information to the grenade launcher. The launcher sets the fuse on the grenade for an airburst detonation at the exact range - right over trenches, just inside buildings, or perhaps directly at the entrance to a bunker. The warhead case is designed to produce fragments potent enough to even defeat PASGT body armor. Precision fusing and an airburst effect - a potent combination against a dug-in enemy.

Nighttime fighting has always been a problem for the common soldier. Engaging targets is very difficult at night for anything but very short range. Normal optical scopes become useless in low-light conditions. Infrared rifle scopes do exist, but their need for special cooling makes them uncommon, expensive, and heavy. The OICW features an infrared scope that operates without cooling, making it light and simple enough to be a standard feature (or at least an easily added module).

The OICW also possesses a data-link port. Exactly what kind of data will be fed through the port is unclear, but it seems reasonable to assume that a video signal from the infrared sight can be sent. This could allow the soldier to use his rifle like a periscope in dangerous situations and even allow aimed fire over trenches or around corners without risking exposure.

Alliant Techsystems Photo

While both candidates are very impressive, the Alliant Techsystems entry eventually was selected for development. The choice of the Alliant entry is very interesting, because the physical weapon is built by Heckler and Koch. Not counting the ammunition, fire control, and total weapon integration, this appears to be the first time the standard US infantryman's rifle will have foreign origins.

The rifle section of the Alliant OICW is based on the brand-new HK G36. The G36 represents something of a departure for the Oberndorf-based company. With the exception of the USP service pistol and the super-exotic MP2000 submachinegun, HK guns have used a roller-locking delayed-blowback system with a fluted chamber for many years. This eliminated the need for a gas tube and allowed the gun to operate effectively even under very severe conditions. The company's strategy was simply to re-scale the size of the components as necessary for whatever type of gun they wanted to produce. The weapons were simple, robust, and cost-effective, but some had a tendency to be on the porky side.

In the case of the G36, HK has switched to gas-operation, but are using a piston in the gas tube to prevent fouling of the tube or receiver. The new design should prove to be much lighter than previous HK weapons of the same caliber. The OICW version should in turn be lighter than the G36, which brings up an interesting point. It's usually pointless to compare a rifle/GL combination to a rifle when it comes to weight.

In the case of the Alliant OICW, the weapon can be split into its component rifle and grenade launcher sections and used standalone - each with its own sights, grips, and magazines. This may not be the kind of design element that "old school" soldiers like to hear about. The old M16 curse of the "Mattel rifle" may be brought back on the OICW, but if the interface is built ruggedly enough, this kind of flexibility would be a boon, allowing it to replace the M4 carbine, M16, and M203 with one modular system at a single stroke.

Also interesting is the cyclic rate. The G36 mechanism can handle a burst rate of 750 rounds/min. For reference that puts it at about 25% faster than an M60 machine gun and 25% slower than the obscene rate of the MAC10 submachinegun. It would be interesting to find if the 100-round clip of the G36 is compatible with the OICW. If so, even the SAW may no longer be necessary in OICW-equipped units. In either case, the fact is that the G36 has been very well received so far, getting accolades for reliability and controllability in field tests and already scoring large-scale orders from the Bundeswehr. This bodes well for the real-world performance of the OICW rifle.

In an age where downsizing forces and growing logistical tails require the fighting infantry to do more with less, the OICW promises to greatly magnify the combat effectiveness of the individual soldier.

AAI Corporation Photo