By David Crane
david (at) defensereview (dot) com
January 21, 2021
Last updated on 1/22/21.
“Maximum lethality with minimum burden to the US Warfighter.” That’s the basic goal of the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) program. It’s certainly a nice goal to strive for, and two of the companies striving for it are Beretta Defense Technologies (BDT) and General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS). BDT’s Marketing VP Gabriele de Plano was kind enough to show DefenseReview (DR) mock-ups of the BDT/GD-OTS RM277-R (Rifle) and RM277-AR (Automatic Rifle) 6.8mm NGSW mock-up weapons with the Delta P BREVIS II suppressor (silencer/sound suppressor) and True Velocity polymer-cased ammo at SHOT Show 2020, and take us through their features.
Basically, the BDT/GD-OTS RM277-R (Rifle) and RM277-AR (Automatic Rifle) NGSW variants are designed to replace the M4/M4A1 Carbine and M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) light machine gun (LMG), respectively. The RM277-AR will of course come with a slightly longer barrel and a bipod. Both feature a bullpup design, so they maximize barrel length whill minimizing overall weapon length. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the guns is the reciprocating barrel and cycling mechanism, which DR would very much like to learn more about.
The BDT/GD-OTS RM277 NGSW weapons are designed around True Velocity’s 6.8mm polymer-cased ammunition, which is pretty interesting, itself. DR covered True Velocity polymer-cased ammo in a previous article.
The RM277 NGSW variants utilize Lancer Systems rifle mags (magazines), so we’re not really sure how the RM277-AR’s supposed to supplant the M249 SAW, which is a belt-fed 5.56mm NATO (5.56x45mm NATO) LMG. That one doesn’t quite compute.
Defense Review doesn’t yet have any real data on the Delta P BREVIS II NGSW suppressor, but we’ll try to get some. In the meantime, enjoy the videos below.
Company Contact Info:
Beretta USA Corp.
17601 Beretta Drive
Accokeek, MD 20607
United States
Phone: 301-283-2191
Email: BDTPO@berettausa.com
Website: https://www.berettadefensetechnologies.com
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS) Corporate Offices
11399 16th Court North, Suite 200
St Petersburg, FL 33716
Main switchboard: 727-578-8100
Website: https://www.gd-ots.com
39333 McKenzie Hwy #245
Springfield, OR 97478
Office: 503-487-0007
Email: sales@deltapdesign.com
Website: https://www.deltapdesign.com
True Velocity Ammunition
1036 Nicholson Rd.
Garland, TX 75042
Phone: 972.487.6500
Email: salesinfo@tvammo.com
Website: https://www.tvammo.com
RUAG Holding AG (Norma Ammo)
Stauffacherstrasse 65
3000 Bern 22 Switzerland
Phone: +41 31 376 64 50
Fax: +41 31 376 64 51
Website: https://www.ruag.com/en
LANCER SYSTEMS LP
2800 Milford Square Pike
Quakertown, PA 18951
Main Office: 610-973-2600
Customer Support: 610-973-2648
Email Contact Page: https://lancer-systems.com/contact/
Website: https://lancer-systems.com
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