Sig Sauer’s controversial 6.8x51mm XM7 service rifle has now received a formal standard type classification, with the official designation changing to M7. This is a vote of confidence for the weapon weeks after an Army captain publicly criticized the rifle as potentially unsafe, ineffective, and overly expensive, claims that the service and Sig Sauer subsequently vehemently rebutted. You can read more about that in our deep dive here.
Along with the M7, Sig Sauer’s XM250 light machine gun (now designated the M250) achieved Type Classification-Standard status, the Army announced yesterday. The service described this as a “major program milestone” for the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) program, which includes both guns, as well as the XM157 computerized optic and the accompanying family of 6.8x51mm ammunition. This new status means the weapons meet “the Army’s stringent standards for operational performance, safety, and sustainment,” per the Army.
“This milestone reflects our commitment to delivering cutting-edge capabilities that give our Soldiers the tactical advantage and lethality required on the battlefield,” said Col. Jason Bohannon, Project Manager Soldier Lethality. “We remain focused on equipping our force with the most reliable and effective tools to ensure mission success.”
The new classification for these weapons ensures that they are “acceptable for Army use prior to spending procurement funds at the Full-Rate Production Decision Review,” Alton E. Stewart, an Army spokesman, told TWZ Wednesday afternoon. It “satisfies DoD requirement to designate when a system is approved for service use.”
Army combat experiences from the Global War on Terror, especially operations in Afghanistan, where reports often emerged of U.S. forces being outranged, helped drive the core requirement for guns firing larger rounds that offer greater range and terminal ballistic performance. Concerns about improving adversary body armor were also a factor. The M7 and the M250, respectively, are set to replace a significant portion of the M4A1 carbines and M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW) now in Army service. Both the M4A1 and M249 are chambered to fire the 5.56x45mm cartridge.
As we previously explained, the M7 is “a 6.8x51mm version of Sig Sauer’s increasingly popular MCX Spear family of rifles. Though Sig’s MCX family is a separate development, the core design is derived from the AR-15/M16 pattern family of rifles, and upper receivers from certain versions of the former can be directly paired with lower receivers from the latter with the help of an adapter. The overall configurations of guns in both families are very similar, as are the basic ergonomics and control arrangements.”
“MCX rifles notably use a gas piston operating mechanism rather than the direct impingement method found on AR-15/M16 types. Direct impingement (DI) involves propellant gases directly blowing into the main action to cycle it, which can more quickly lead to fouling on key components without regular cleaning. Piston systems that keep gas away from a gun’s internal works can offer improved overall reliability in certain circumstances, although they tend to be heavier than their DI counterparts.”
The Army’s new designation of these weapons won’t affect how they are being fielded, Stewart told us, but it serves to further rebut a scathing critique by Army Capt. Braden Trent. He presented his findings, which come from an unclassified student thesis, at the annual Modern Day Marine exposition in Washington, D.C., on April 29. The Army infantry officer did his work while attending the Expeditionary Warfare School, part of the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia.
What is now designated the M7 has suffered from serious reliability and other issues, including having cartridge cases “ripped apart by the internal pressure of the system,” excessive barrel wear, and regular breakages of key components, Trent stated. He claimed that these problems, together with a host of other factors, including the weight and recoil of the rifle, make the gun “unfit” for its intended purpose.
Trent said he observed and/or learned of several other serious technical issues after being given the chance to interview “over 150 soldiers, maintainers, and leaders,” as well as inspect a sample set of 23 XM7 rifles, all from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. The brigade’s 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment was the first operational Army unit to begin receiving XM7s and the rest of the NGSW family of systems.
In an interview with TWZ on the symposium’s show floor, Sig Sauer vociferously pushed back on Trent’s assertions.
“I believe that Captain Trent had some shortcomings and difficulties in understanding the totality of the NGSW program and some significant blind spots into the progress that the NGSW program has made over the last let’s call it 24 months,” Jason St. John, senior director of strategic products for the Defense Strategies Group at Sig Sauer, told us. “By him not having any clarity on any of the engineering change proposal efforts, and understanding of the 101st [Airborne Division’s] fielding efforts, the actual pacing of the program … and really the ongoing product improvement efforts that the program office and Sig Sauer are doing in concert with each other, really clouded his perspective, and I believe his opinions that he represented. There are significant misrepresentations and holes in those statements [that he made].”
In 2022, the Army awarded Sig Sauer a 10-year, $20.4 million initial production contract to produce M7s and M250s, following a 27-month evaluation of three competing weapon systems. By that point, more than 500 soldiers, Marines, and special operators had conducted a combined 20,000 hours of testing as part of the NGSW program, according to the Army.
As of last year, the Army said its “acquisition objectives” included the purchase of 111,428 M7s and 13,334 M250s.
“It’s an exciting day for everyone involved, whether that is Sig Sauer, the U.S. Army as a whole, and especially the soldiers, who can have confidence that they are being equipped to enhance their mission success and truly possess tactical superiority in their small arms,” St. John told us Wednesday afternoon in an email.
There is the possibility that other branches of the U.S. military could adopt the M7 in the future. At Modern Day Marine in April, the service noted that it had just recently completed an evaluation of the NGSW family of systems and had begun processing the results to determine what, if any, steps forward will be taken. For now, the primary arm of the Marines remains the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR), which is, in turn, a variant of the HK416. The HK416 is a gas-piston derivative of the AR-15/M16 series.
It is unclear whether or how the Army’s type classification decision might affect the Marines’ plans. We have reached out to the Corps and will update this story with any pertinent information provided.
The Army is now continuing to move ahead with its plans to field what are now designated the M7 rifle and M250 light machine gun.
Update: 8:53 AM May 23 –
The Marine Corps responded to our question about how the Army’s new designation could affect its plans.
“The Marine Corps is tracking the Army’s decision to designate Type Classification-Standard status for the M7 (previously XM-7). The Marine Corps is analyzing the results of the Operational Assessment and will continue through the summer to gather all relevant data, including this authorization, across the Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership and Education, Personnel, Facilities, and Policy (DOTMLPF-P) spectrum to inform a Service decision in FY 2026.”
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