US Army to publish new NGSW timetable, issued ‘stop work order' after competition protest

A US Army's new NGSW-AR in display. The service initially planned to begin fielding the weapon in late 2023. It is now reassessing its schedule following a competition protest that prompted a delay. (Janes/Ashley Roque)

The US Army asked Sig Sauer to resume Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) work in early July after LoneStar Future Weapons withdrew two source selection protests, the service told Janes . Army programme officials are poised to release an updated testing and fielding schedule.

In April, the service announced that it had selected Sig Sauer's XM5 NGSW-Rifle (NGSW-R) offering to replace the M4/M4A1 carbine weapon and the company's XM250 NGSW-Automatic Rifle (NGSW-AR) to replace the close-combat force's M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in the Automatic Rifleman role. The company's 6.8 mm ammunition was also selected.

LoneStar Future Weapons (previously under a General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems contract) and Textron Systems had also been competing for the contract. Colonel Scott Madore, the army's project manager for soldier lethality, confirmed during a 20 April press conference that the service had eliminated Textron Systems from the competition early on because its offering “had not fully met the success criteria”.

Then after the army awarded Sig Sauer a 10-year contract valued up to USD4.7 billion, LoneStar Future Weapons filed two bid protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The first was filed on 18 May and the second on 10 June, according to GAO's website. The company withdrew both protests on 1 July before the office rendered its decisions.

LoneStar Future Weapons did not respond to Janes multiple requests at the time of publication into what prompted the company to file the GAO protests and withdraw them.