AHC: US military adopts OICW-style rifle

[TDM]

Ive noted in much of the war porn I have been watching for the last 10 years or so that many fire fights are ended only when a heavier weapon such as a Javalin or a 60mm mortar or heavier support elements (Artillery, Airstrike, Apache) are employed

Its kind of a self fulfilling prophecy if you have access to it (especially if the other side doesn't) than it's an advantage that you use to win the fight and not die while doing so. At the end of the day an infantry squad is a small component withing a much larger thing and having all the options there, available and usable is a huge undertaking but well one worth the work if feasible. But as ever "artillery kills people, infantry take their stuff" !

there is after all no such thing as too much firepower

So I have concluded that sometimes the weight is necessary

That being said weight has become an increasing burden - I read a few years back a case detailing a US Airborne Platoon - it detailed the equipment each man carried and then the minimum equipment that the unit had to take with it on a patrol or a morning door kicking mission.

Now spread among 44 blokes this was a lot but it turned out that due to various reasons* the platoon was often deploying with as few as just 20 men and that extra kit was still required but now spread about far fewer men

*Company commander details a squad for additional tasking
Sickness
Leave
Wounded or KIA
Compulsary Health and Safety in the work place course

My knees hurt just thinking about it

Quite but there is a limit to what can be carried, and since as you say they're already carrying a lot of stuff there's not a lot of room for cases of 60mm mortar shells.

 

[phx1138]

weight has become an increasing burden

Is that an understatement. How much of it is useless junk you have no need for when you're only going out a few hours?

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Is that an understatement. How much of it is useless junk you have no need for when you're only going out a few hours?

Well it's not like the troops we are talking about have 'just got off the boat' - they and their predecessors have been doing this for a number of decades now and given the Darwinian nature of their work and the best lessons were learned by the survivors I have to assume that what they carry is what they need to carry!

 

[phx1138]

Well it's not like the troops we are talking about have 'just got off the boat' - they and their predecessors have been doing this for a number of decades now and given the Darwinian nature of their work and the best lessons were learned by the survivors I have to assume that what they carry is what they need to carry!

I don't disagree with that, & in no way mean to suggest I know better. I just recall reading something, by a one-time grunt, saying the average GI is laden with junk they might need in rare cases, but could safely be left behind in a world where resupply & evac is close at hand. I can't help think about the guys who went ashore at Normandy with 3 days' rations (& bedrolls, too, IIRC). Huh? If they failed, it wouldn't matter; if they didn't, they'd be supplied before that. How many men drowned because they were carrying loads of crap they'd never need (even if they hadn't drowned )?

 

[SwampTiger]

There is a reason powered personal battle suits are a standard for futuristic military and science fiction!