Sig Sauer's XM7 Rifle Gets Army's Seal Of Approval Despite Controversy
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.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
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Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
US Army To Boost Patriot Air Defense Battalions
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The U.S. Army will add three more battalions to its Patriot air defense force and beef up its air defense on the key U.S. territory of Guam. Why It Matters The Patriot ground-based air defense system is considered the gold standard of air defense, credited with knocking out even the most sophisticated of threats, like tough-to-intercept ballistic missiles. The Raytheon-built systems are in very high demand across the world, not least in Europe as Ukraine's allies struggle to meet Kyiv's requirements for defenses against next-generation aerial weapons frequently launched by Moscow. Patriot battalions are deployed in the Pacific. They also intercepted Iran's attack on the U.S.'s Al Udeid airbase in Qatar in June. What To Know The U.S. Army will increase the number of its operational Patriot battalions to 18, up from 15, an Army spokesperson told Defense News in a statement. German and Ukrainian soldiers stand in front of "Patriot" anti-aircraft missile systems during the visit of Ukrainian President Zelensky to a military training area on June 11, 2024. German and Ukrainian soldiers stand in front of "Patriot" anti-aircraft missile systems during the visit of Ukrainian President Zelensky to a military training area on June 11, 2024. Jens B'ttner/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images A Patriot battalion is made up of several Patriot batteries, said William Freer, a research fellow in national security at the U.K.-based think tank, the Council on Geostrategy. Each Patriot battery has several components, including a radar, multiple launchers, and a command and control center. Also in the mix are different types of Patriot interceptor missiles. Another battalion based on the remote Western Pacific island of Guam will have extra Patriot capabilities, according to the report. The U.S. military has several key military bases on Guam, a U.S. owned territory east of The Philippines. The then-chief of the Space and Missile Defense Command, Lieutenant General Daniel Karbler, said in mid-2023 the U.S. would expand its Patriot capabilities to "recognize the demands on the Patriot force." Karbler did not specify at the time how many additional battalions would be added. General James Mingus, the U.S. Army's vice chief of staff, said in July the Army would add "up to four" new Patriot battalions, including one in Guam. The new battalions would use the most up-to-date radar for Patriots to "vastly extend" the range of the air defense systems, the senior official said. "Recent improvements to radar used in a Patriot battery, implementing lessons and data from engagements in recent years, and improved integration with other systems promise to make Patriot even more effective in the future," Freer told Newsweek. "In the future, the majority of threats Soldiers will face will be in the skies, making air defense more critical," the U.S. Army said in a press release. Patriots, while widely hailed as very effective, are very expensive systems. Where possible, cheaper air defense systems or drones will be used to intercept slower-moving and inexpensively-made threats, like other drones. "There are long waiting lists for new customers," Freer said. "A single battery and its missiles costs around $1.1 billion, meaning a Patriot battalion could cost between $4-5 billion." Patriots would be "a vital component" in U.S. defenses in any future fight with China, Freer added. The Netherlands said on Monday it would send Patriot parts and missiles to Ukraine as part of a package worth roughly $577 million. "The Netherlands is the first country to follow up on the NATO-US weapons deal," including buying American air defense systems for Kyiv, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said in a statement on social media. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and U.S. President Donald Trump announced in July that NATO's European members and Canada would pay for urgently needed equipment for Ukraine, buying supplies like air defense systems from the U.S. "I commend The Netherlands for taking the lead and turning this initiative into concrete support on the ground, building on the steps taken last week by Germany to deliver more Patriot systems to Ukraine," Rutte said in a statement on Monday. Berlin said on Friday it would send two more Patriot systems to Ukraine through an agreement with the U.S. to urgently replace the donated systems. What People Are Saying William Freer, a research fellow in national security at the Council on Geostrategy, told Newsweek that the Patriot is "one of the most capable" air defense systems. What Happens Next With the U.S. planning to expand its Patriot battalions, "it is vital that production numbers [of interceptor missiles] are increased to meet demand and build-up stockpiles," Freer said. "There is no point in a Patriot battery if it has no missiles to fire," Freer added.
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
How the ‘social justice' movement distorted what Kyle Rittenhouse really did
Five summers ago, with no end to the coronavirus pandemic in sight and a pent-up desire to rebel against the spectacle of police violence in the wake of George Floyd's videotaped death, cities across the country exploded in rioting and arson. With the confluence of the threat of COVID-19, the ongoing racial reckoning, and the specter of President Trump's re-election campaign rendering even the smallest considerations and disagreements hyper-partisan, the nation's media, political and cultural institutions grew single-mindedly focused on an overly simplistic story of 'social justice' and 'antiracism.' In 'Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse,' (Knopf, out August 5) Thomas Chatterton Williams, a staff writer at The Atlantic, paints a clear and detailed picture of the pivotal ideas and events that paved the way for the dramatic paradigm shift that changed the country in the summer of 2020 and helped make possible the astonishing backlash still unfolding today. Here, an excerpt. When a doughy 17-year-old named Kyle Rittenhouse, too young to purchase the AR-15 he'd strapped across himself, ventured from his home in Antioch, Ill., into the burning streets of Kenosha, Wis., he was doing many things simultaneously. He was placing himself in a deranged situation that shouldn't have unfolded to begin with. And, in doing so, his very armed presence became a further provocation, heightening the danger for himself and everyone around him. But he was also attempting, however misguidedly, to make his community safer. 7 In the summer of 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse, then 17, strapped on an AR-15 in an misguided attempt to keep Wisconsin streets safe. AP Advertisement On the morning of Aug. 25, 2020, two drastically divergent white lives inched inexorably closer to conflict. As Rittenhouse took up with a makeshift cleanup crew, Joseph Rosenbaum was discharged from the Aurora psychiatric hospital, outside Milwaukee. A deeply troubled 36-year-old with an extensive criminal record — including recent domestic violence against his fiancée and prior sexual assault of minors — whom the hospital had deposited in the middle of Kenosha's pandemonium, Rosenbaum attempted to retrieve his belongings from the police station, only to find it shuttered because of the ongoing melee. He continued on to Walgreens to procure his medication, but the store had also been closed due to the protests. Meanwhile, Rittenhouse prepared to join another crew that evening at the Car Source auto lot, which had been set ablaze the previous evening. As night descended, Rosenbaum left the motel where his fiancée was living and Rittenhouse was filmed standing guard outside the dealership with a gathering group of armed men, people he describes as complete strangers who had also come to protect local businesses. Advertisement 7 Kenosha, Wisconsin, erupted in protests and flames after the shooting of James Blake. AFP via Getty Images Rittenhouse speaks affably with citizen journalists live streaming the protests on social media. 'People are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business, and part of my job is also to help people,' he says unaffectedly. 'If there's somebody hurt, I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle, because I need to protect myself obviously. But I also have my med kit.' Mid-conversation, he looks up and shouts, 'Medical, EMS right here, do you need assistance? I am an EMT,' and rushes out of frame. An hour before midnight, in the claustrophobic lot of the Ultimate Convenience Center, Rosenbaum emerges for the first time on video. Head shaved to a polish, fluorescent stud jutting from his earlobe, and a look of fury tinged on his troubled countenance, his compact figure berates and even butts into much larger men with long guns. Rosenbaum looks and sounds not fearless but reckless. 'Don't point no motherf–king gun at me, homey!' he screams one moment before quickly changing tacks: 'Shoot me, n—a! Shoot me, n—a! Bust on me, n—a! For real!' he taunts the militia members without getting a rise, in the process embodying some of the strangest, most thoroughly American racial alchemy that is as familiar to me as it would be inscrutable to someone foreign born. Advertisement 7 The Kenosha protests were part of what Thomas Chatterton Williams dubs the 'Summer of Our Discontent,' which is the title of his new book. Thomas Brunot It is the kind of subtlety the blunt mainstream narrative around blackness, whiteness and antiracism is so ill-equipped to convey accurately, or even to recognize in the first place, and so it is ignored. I have seen no evidence in the hours of footage from that night to indicate the militiamen themselves had treated the protesters they encountered with racial prejudice. It is Rosenbaum alone who has deployed the n-word. But he does not do so pejoratively, at least not regarding black people. Many of the black men standing nearby register the epithet yet take no exception to it, even as they protectively move to restrain him — a white man who is out of control and in conflict solely with other white men. Soon Rosenbaum is shoving a flaming dumpster toward the idle gas pumps, as scores of bystanders do nothing, filming this act of patent lunacy from a distance. One young man has the sense to douse the flames with a fire extinguisher. Advertisement 7 Rittenhouse shot and killed two men. Joseph Rosenbaum (above), a deeply troubled 36-year-old with an extensive criminal record, was one of them. The professional police forces appear sporadically in armored vehicles and weakly address the combustible crowd through loudspeakers. Whereas Rittenhouse and the other armed civilians are physically present in the streets, inserting their bodies into the commotion, law enforcement officers are just as good as absent. Both Rittenhouse and Rosenbaum, who has now removed his shirt and wrapped it around his head like a desert nomad, are among the hundreds of men and women told to disperse on Sheridan Road, the main artery. 'Back away from the business, back away from the business,' an officer commands from the safety of his tank's interior. Rosenbaum is seen among the crowd, swinging a metal chain. Officers slow to a crawl and toss Rittenhouse and his colleagues bottled water through the roof hatch of an armored truck. 'We appreciate you guys, we really do,' the disembodied voice from the loudspeaker intones. 7 Rittenhouse also fatally shot 26-year-old Anthony Huber (above). There is something shameful, darkly comical and infuriating about this exchange. Law enforcement has outsourced the task of keeping fuel pumps from exploding to improvising adolescents. These police are spectators, watching a 17-year-old attempt to save them. Fifteen minutes later, the streets still buzz, protesters linger, restlessly scrolling their phones. Rittenhouse walks among this multiracial assembly and asks, 'Medical, does anybody need medical?' He is rebuffed by a couple of men in masks and continues onward to an intersection. Officers, who have used their vehicles to corral the mob southward, prevent him from resuming his post in front of Car Source. At 11:44, reports that rioters are trying to set on fire yet more cars at another lot come across the scanners. 'We've seen at least four people with handguns running around here,' a dispatcher warns. Two minutes after that, Rittenhouse is filmed holding a fire extinguisher, running from the gas station before slowing to a walk. Rosenbaum follows, picking up his pace, closing the distance between them. He throws his bag of belongings at him. Then the night cracks with a nearby gunshot. Four more shots in quick succession scatter the crowd into a frenzy. The camera shakes. Rittenhouse, who's been separated from his colleagues, runs in circles around a parked car. Another three-round burst, and as the focus resumes, he remains standing and Rosenbaum has fallen. 7 Rittenhouse turned himself in, telling officers that he had 'shot two white kids.' AP Advertisement The latter's limp body is hoisted into an SUV. Rittenhouse makes a phone call, then begins to flee. The crowd has grown attuned to him in unison, with tragically imperfect information, reacting to the presence of what seems to be an active shooter, as rumor pulses through it. 'What did he do?' one man shouts, chasing after Rittenhouse, who stumbles onto his back in the middle of the thoroughfare. Four masked white men are upon him, one drop-kicking him in the chest before another smacks his head with a skateboard. Rittenhouse receives the blows and shoots the skater in the process, killing him. A third approaches, raising a handgun, and Rittenhouse fires another round, blowing apart his forearm. He stands. The remaining bystanders give a wide berth now, and he shuffles down the street back to the gas station, where a cluster of police vehicles, lights flashing, slowly approach — far too late to be of use to anyone. Hands raised, he attempts to turn himself in, but the armored vehicles drive right past him. Even though the shooter and each of his three targets, as well as the instigating crowd around them, are white, dispatchers relay a description of the gunman as 'black.' Rittenhouse leaves the scene, returning home to his mother. She drives him to the police department in Antioch at 1:20 a.m., where he attempts to turn himself in a second time, vomiting in the precinct lobby and telling officers that he had 'shot two white kids.' 7 The tidy narrative branded Rittenhouse a 'racist killer.' Thomas Chatterton Williams writes, 'In the context of the summer of 2020, what had happened among four white men could never be understood as unfortunate or tragic or even simply illegal; it was racist.' AP Advertisement 'Kenosha: Teen Charged with Murder After Two Black Lives Matter Protesters Killed,' read one headline in The Guardian. In the context of the summer of 2020, what had happened among four white men could never be understood as unfortunate or tragic or even simply illegal; it was racist. Rosenbaum had been elevated posthumously to the status of 'a Black Lives Matter activist.' The specific and complicated causes and effects that produced the awful violence of August 25 — all of which contradict the notion that these were primarily peaceful demonstrations — much like the particularities of the police shooting of Jacob Blake that had preceded it, had been reconfigured into a tidier narrative. Excerpted from 'Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse' (Knopf, August 5, 2025). Copyright © 2025 by Thomas Chatterton Williams
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Barabak: In America's hardest-fought congressional district, voters agree: Release the Epstein files
When it comes to President Trump, Angie Zamora and Phaidra Medeiros agree on very little. Zamora, a 36-year-old Army veteran, has nothing good to say. "The laws. All the rights taken away from women. The stuff with ICE," Zamora said, ticking off her frustrations as she stopped outside the post office in the Central Valley community of Los Banos. "Why are they going after people working on farms when they're supposed to be chasing violent criminals?" Medeiros, by contrast, is delighted Trump replaced Joe Biden. "He wasn't mentally fit," Medeiros said of the elderly ex-president. "There was something wrong with him from the very beginning." Despite all that, the two do share one belief: Both say the government should cough up every last bit of information it has on Jeffrey Epstein, his sordid misdeeds and the powerful associates who moved in his aberrant orbit. Trump "did his whole campaign on releasing the Epstein files," Zamora said. "And now he's trying to change the subject. 'Oh, it's a 'hoax' ... 'Oh, you guys are still talking about that creep?' And yet there's pictures throughout the years of him with that creep." Medeiros, 56, echoed the sentiment. Read more: Barabak: Here's why Jeffrey Epstein's tangled web is conspiratorial catnip Trump and his fellow Republicans "put themselves into this predicament because they kept talking constantly" about the urgency of unsealing records in Epstein's sex-trafficking case — until they took control of the Justice Department and the rest of Washington. "Now," she said, "they're backpedaling." Medeiros paused outside the engineering firm where she works in the Central Valley, in Newman, on a tree-lined street adorned with star-spangled banners honoring local servicemen and women. "Obviously there were minors involved" in Epstein's crimes, she said, and if Trump is somehow implicated "then he needs to go down as well." Years after being found dead in a Manhattan prison cell — killed by his own hand, according to authorities — Epstein appears to have done the near-impossible in this deeply riven nation. He's united Democrats, Republicans and independents around a call to reveal, once and for all, everything that's known about his case. "He's dead now, but if people were involved they should be prosecuted," said Joe Toscano, a 69-year-old Los Banos retiree and unaffiliated voter who last year supported Trump's return to the White House. "Bring it all out there. Make it public." California's 13th Congressional District, where Zamora, Medeiros and Toscano all live, is arguably the most closely fought political terrain in America. Sprawling through California's midriff, from the far reaches of the San Francisco Bay Area to the southern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, it's farm country: flat, fertile and crossed-hatched with canals, rail lines and thruways with utilitarian names such as Road No. 32 and Avenue 18½. The myriad small towns are brief interludes amid the dairy and poultry farms and lush carpeting of vegetables, fruit and nut trees that stretch to the hazy-brown horizon. The most populous city, Merced, has fewer than 100,000 residents. (Modesto, with a population of around 220,000, is split between the 5th and 13th districts.) Democratic Rep. Adam Gray was elected in November in the closest House race in the country, beating the Republican incumbent, John Duarte, by 187 votes out of nearly 211,000 cast. The squeaker was a rematch and nearly a rerun. Two years prior, Duarte defeated Gray by fewer than 600 votes out of nearly 134,000 cast. Not surprisingly, both parties have made the 13th District a top target in 2026; handicappers rate the contest a toss-up, even as the field sorts itself out. (Duarte has said he would not run again.) The midterm election is a long way off, so it's impossible to say how the Epstein controversy will play out politically. But there is, at the least, a baseline expectation of transparency, a view that was repeatedly expressed in conversations with three dozen voters across the district. Zachery Ramos, a 25-year-old independent, is the founder of the Gustine Traveling Library, which promotes learning and literacy throughout the Central Valley. Its storefront, painted with polka dots and decorated with giant butterflies, sits like a cheery oasis in Gustine's four-block downtown, a riot of green spilling from the planter boxes out front. Inside, the walls were filled with commendations and newspaper clippings celebrating Ramos' good works. As a nonprofit, he said, "we have to have everything out there. All the books. Everything." Epstein, he suggested, should be treated no differently. "When it comes to something as serious as that, with what may or may not have taken place on his private island, with his girlfriend" — convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell — "I do think it should all be out in the open," Ramos said. "If you're not afraid of your name being in [the files], especially when you're dealing with minors being assaulted, it should 100% be made public." Read more: Commentary: Political ploy or bold move to save democracy? Our columnists debate Newsom redistricting threat Ed, a 42-year-old Democrat who manages a warehouse operation in Patterson, noted that Trump released the government's long-secret files on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., even though King's family objected. (Like several of those interviewed, he declined to give his last name, to avoid being hassled by readers who don't like what he had to say.) Why, Ed wondered, shouldn't the Epstein files come to light? "It wasn't just Trump," he said. "It was a lot of Republicans in Congress that said, 'Hey, we want to get these files out there.' And I believe if Kamala [Harris] had won, they would be beating her down, demanding she do so." He smacked a fist in his palm, to emphasize the point. Sue, a Madera Republican and no fan of Trump, expressed her feelings in staccato bursts of fury. "Apparently the women years ago said who was doing what, but nobody listens to the women," said the 75-year-old retiree. "Release it all! Absolutely! You play, you pay, buddy." Even those who dismissed the importance of Epstein and his crimes said the government should hold nothing back — if only to erase doubts and lay the issue to rest. Epstein "is gone and I don't really care if they release the files or not," said Diane Nunes, a 74-year-old Republican who keeps the books for her family farm, which lies halfway between Los Banos and Gustine. "But they probably should, because a lot of people are waiting for that." Patrick, a construction contractor, was more worked up about "pretty boy" Gavin Newsom and "Nazi Pelosi" — "yes, that's what I call her" — than anything that might be lurking in the Epstein files. "When the cat is dead, you don't pick it up and pet it. Right?" He motioned to the pavement, baking as the temperature in Patterson climbed into the low 90s. "It's over with," the 61-year-old Republican said of Epstein and his villainy. "Move on." At least, that would be his preference. But to "shut everybody up, absolutely, yeah, they should release them," Patrick said. "Otherwise, we're all going to be speculating forever." Or at least until the polls close in November 2026. Get the latest from Mark Z. BarabakFocusing on politics out West, from the Golden Gate to the U.S. me up. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
