Is the OICW Land Warrior assault gun real?

[Draco Lawgiver]

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/oicw4.jpg


Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW) will be a light weight weapon capable of firing kinetic energy projectiles and an air-bursting fragmentation munition. It will allow soldiers to effectively attack targets at greater ranges, and to attack targets in defilade. It combines leading edge technologies in miniaturized fuzing; integrated fire control; light weight, high strength materials; and munitions effects. OICW will increase the lethality and survivability of the individual soldier. It is the sole lethality component of the Dismounted Battle Lab's 21st Century Land Warrior (21 CLW) Top Level Demonstration.

Is this gun for real? Waka, do you know? Damn! Looks like something right out of ALIENS or Starship Troopers!

Here are some links:

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/oicw.htm

http://www.sbccom.army.mil/programs/lw/

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/4321512

[StrangeloveDr]

Yes, that is a real gun. It is only in concept form though, and has not been mass produced, made by Heckler and Koch though.

[DrStranglove]

Did I say that?


DrS

[Army Scout]

Yup, Its the real deal.....I'm sure wouldn't want to carry it...:)

Chris

[DrStranglove]

Does look awfully heavy to me...


DrS

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...or close the wall with our dead! In peace, nothing so becomes a man as modesty and humility. But when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the Tyger. Summon up the blood. Disguise fair nature with rage, and lend the eye a terrible aspect."

[Draco Lawgiver]

One description says it's only 12lbs, but another says 20lbs!

[Onigiri]

It's real and scheduled for 2006. That might be accelerated now though. I tink the weights you were seeing are loaded/unloaded. The weapon also breaks down in to two seperate weapons.

[DrStranglove]

Either weight would be useless to me. And I am a Combat Marine.


DrS

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...or close the wall with our dead! In peace, nothing so becomes a man as modesty and humility. But when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the Tyger. Summon up the blood. Disguise fair nature with rage, and lend the eye a terrible aspect."

[0neiros]

Total weight is 9-12 lbs-Joined-4-lbs rifle unit only, depending on what materials they finally decide on. The lower part detaches and uses standard NATO M-16 ammo, with slightly better performance specs than an M-16. The upper part when joined, holds 6 programmable 20mm rounds which can be programmed to detonate on impact, time delay, degree of penetration etc. Meaning, you got a guy behind a wall, you program a shell to go through the wall and detonate, OR if he's in a hole, you use the rangefinder to detonate the shell right over his head to turn him into mush. It also has a built in Eye system which will let you use Infrared, Thermal, or Nightvision, AND the Eyepiece is built into the helmet, so you can stick the weapon around the corner, and sight in and blast away. They will also be signature guns-user specific, so if one is picked up by the enemy and he tries to use it...BOOM. Of course at 12k+ Per unit, they better not be left behind. When our people have these, our forces will be damn near invincible.

[philippes]

It's real. Popular Science had a great article on it a year or two ago.

Phil

[Wakal]

H&K lost the prototype test round, if memory serves, in favor of Alliant Tech. The lower is pretty much pure M16. Of course I want one, but they are running about 65k last time I heard :)

Here is a good site:

www.fas.org/man/dod-101/s...d/oicw.htm (http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/oicw.htm)



Alex "Wakal", "Wakal" darn it...

[LZeitgeist]

Fozzie Bear: "Waka waka waka...!!"

[morph13]

First Unit Equipped FY09
System Architecture should be hammered down 2Q FY02

Alliant Tech is the prime