M7 Rifle
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The M7, previously designated as the XM5, is the U.S. Army variant of the SIG MCX Spear, a 6.8×51mm (.277 in),
gas-operated Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech, Semi-automatic firearm, autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the Cartridge (firearms), cartridge being fired is used t ...
,
magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
-fed
assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...
designed by
SIG Sauer SIG Sauer is since the 1970s a combined brand name of several Firearms manufacturing companies, with SIG referring to ''Swiss Industry Group'' originally founded 1853, while the latter part comes from Sauer & Sohn, founded in 1751 in Germany a ...
for the Next Generation Squad Weapon program in 2022 to replace the
M4 carbine The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively used by the US mi ...
. The M7 features a free-floating reinforced
M-LOK M-LOK, for Modular Lock, is a firearm Rail Integration System, rail interface system developed and patented by Magpul Industries. The license is free-of-charge, but subject to an approval process. M-LOK allows for direct accessory attachment ...
handguard for direct accessory attachment to slotted hole mounting points. It began being fielded in March 2024.


History

In January 2019, the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
began the
Next Generation Squad Weapon Program The Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) program is a United States Armed Forces, United States military program created in 2017 by the United States Army, U.S. Army to replace the 5.56×45mm NATO, 5.56mm M4 carbine, the M249 SAW light machine gun ...
to find replacements for the
M4 carbine The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively used by the US mi ...
and
M249 light machine gun The M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon), formally the Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is the United States Armed Forces adaptation of the Belgian FN Minimi, a light machine gun manufactured by FN Herstal (FN). The M249 SAW is manufactured in t ...
. In September 2019, SIG Sauer submitted its designs. The SIG Sauer MCX-SPEAR (the rifle's commercial designation) is chambered in the 6.8×51mm (.277 in) SIG Fury cartridge in response to concerns that improvements in
body armor Body armour, personal armour (also spelled ''armor''), armoured suit (''armored'') or coat of armour, among others, is armour for human body, a person's body: protective clothing or close-fitting hands-free shields designed to absorb or deflect ...
would diminish the effectiveness of ammunition such as the
5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, commonly pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, ...
(for the M4 and M249) and
7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, straight walled, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first be ...
(for M240). ''
Army Times ''Army Times'' (ISSN 0004–2595) is a newspaper published 26 times a year serving active, reserve, national guard and retired United States Army personnel and their families, providing news, information and analysis as well as community and ...
'' describes this as an "intermediate caliber 6.8mm cartridge". On 19 April 2022, the Army awarded a 10-year contract to SIG Sauer to produce the XM7 rifle, along with the
XM250 The M250 is the U.S. military designation for the SIG LMG 6.8, a 6.8×51mm (.277 in), gas-operated, belt-fed light machine gun designed by SIG Sauer for the U.S. Army's Next Generation Squad Weapon Program in 2022 to replace the M249 light mac ...
light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridge (firearms), cartridges of the same caliber as the othe ...
, to replace the M4 carbine and M249 light machine gun, respectively. Originally the rifle was designated XM5, as the next number sequentially for the weapon it will replace. In January 2023, the Army announced it would change the name of the rifle from XM5 to XM7 to avoid a trademark conflict with Colt's M5 carbine. The first batch of 25 XM7s was planned for delivery in late 2023. The Army may order 107,000 rifles over the succeeding decade for close combat forces including infantry, cavalry scouts, combat engineers, forward observers and combat medics. There are no plans to issue the weapons to non-close combat soldiers. The contract has the option to build additional weapons should the
U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...
and U.S. Special Operations Command choose to be included. XM7s were delivered to the
101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. The 101st is designed to plan, coordinat ...
and
75th Ranger Regiment The 75th Ranger Regiment, also known as the United States Army Rangers, Army Rangers, is the United States Army Special Operations Command's premier light infantry and direct-action raid force. The 75th Ranger Regiment is also part of Joint S ...
in September 2023 for user tests. Operational testing of the XM7 rifle, XM250 light machine gun, and XM157 Fire Control Optic was scheduled to begin in 2024 (at which point it would become the M7) but widespread distribution was not assured. In March 2024, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division began fielding the rifle. In May 2025, the rifle was type classified as the M7.Project Manager Soldier Lethality Announces Type Classification Approval for Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW)
'' Army.mil''. 20 May 2025.


Design

The M7 rifle weighs , or with a
suppressor A silencer, also known as a sound suppressor, suppressor, or sound moderator, is a gun barrel#Muzzle, muzzle device that suppresses the muzzle blast, blast created when a gun (firearm or airgun) is discharged, thereby reducing the sound inten ...
. It uses
SR-25 pattern magazine An SR-25, AR-10 or LR-308 pattern magazine is a type of detachable firearm magazine based on the original Armalite AR-10 "waffle" magazine design introduced in the late 1950s, used for .308 Winchester and 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges. The design ha ...
s that hold 20 rounds in a
box magazine A magazine, often simply called a mag, is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holdi ...
. An optional 25-round box magazine is also available. The proposed combat ammunition load for each soldier will be 140 total rounds in seven 20-round magazines, in total weighing . Compared to the M4A1 carbine weighing unsuppressed, with a basic combat load of 210 rounds in seven 30-round magazines, in total weighing , the XM7 rifle weighs about more and each soldier carries roughly a heavier load with 70 fewer rounds. File:2022 09 16 Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade Rangers in Action demonstration and Graduation 200609-A-YH902-002.jpg, Soldiers from
Training and Doctrine Command The United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) is a major command of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Eustis, Virginia. It is charged with overseeing training of Army forces and the development of operational doctrine. ...
with an XM7 rifle (near) and XM250 light machine gun (far). File:XM7 rifle.jpg, XM7 with a 20-round box magazine File:XM7 firing.jpg, XM7 firing


References


External links


SIG MCX Spear civilian version of M7
{{SIG Sauer Rifles Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2019 6.8mm firearms Assault rifles of the United States SIG Sauer rifles Short stroke piston firearms