They've made some interesting decisions about small arms recently.NighthawkNZ wrote: The Army is looking at options to replacement of the aging 5.56mm IW Steyr
Like a number of other armies who discovered the range limitations of 5.56mm weapons in Afghanistan, they have introduced a long-range rifle in the old but much more powerful 7.62mm calibre; the Designated Marksman Weapon. It is an LMT design, basically the same as the British L129A1 "Sharpshooter" only with a 20" instead of 16" barrel (sensible) and provision for automatic fire (interesting!).
They are also replacing all of their C9 5.56mm LMGs (Minimi) with a 7.62mm version of the Minimi. This is a first: the US Army has introduced the 7.62mm Minimi alongside the 5.56mm version, but no-one else has switched completely from 5.56mm.
After that, the AUG replacement hardly matters: in fact, they have chosen another LMT carbine in 5.56mm calibre, which makes sense as it means that the handling, controls etc will be the same as for the DMW. An interesting detail is that they are reportedly using the heavy MK262 long-range target ammo used by US special forces. Lead-cored, so no good against armour, but effective against unprotected enemies.
