Latest news with #XM7
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
18 Army Rangers suspended for allegedly firing blanks at Florida beach
Eighteen soldiers with the 6th Ranger Training Battalion have been temporarily suspended as instructors pending the outcome of an investigation into a May 16 incident in Florida, during which they allegedly fired blank rounds from their weapons at a public beach, said Jennifer S. Gunn, a spokeswoman for the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia. Currently, the Ranger instructors cannot train students going through the final stage of the U.S. Army Ranger Course at Camp Rudder, located on Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, Gunn told Task & Purpose on Thursday. The 6th Ranger Training Battalion runs the swamp phase of the Ranger Course, but is not within the 75th Ranger Regiment. The May 16 incident at Crab Island in Destin, Florida, led to at least two 911 calls and several social media posts. Videos posted on social media showed men in military uniforms with Ranger tabs and blank adapters on their weapons firing at least two bursts into the air. In one of the videos, a woman who is off camera can be heard shouting after the first burst, 'Is that real?' Michael Ingram, a charter boat captain who was at Crab Island at the time, told Task & Purpose that the soldiers did not give any advance warning that they intended to fire their weapons, prompting several boaters to take cover. 'This is unacceptable because there are so many real mass shootings going on in America each year,' Ingram told Task & Purpose for a previous story. 'You can't be joking about it.' Gunn confirmed that the suspended Ranger instructors participated in the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival, which was held on the evening of May 16 at nearby Fort Walton Beach. The festival included a mock sea battle, in which the Rangers fired blanks while riding in small boats to 'capture' Billy Bowlegs. 'This was the only approved festival activity that involved the Army Rangers firing their weapons,' Devon Ravine, a spokesman for the city of Fort Walton Beach, told Task & Purpose on Monday. 'The pirate festival, he said, was about five miles from Crab Island. 'We do not know what occurred at Crab Island on Friday, and cannot comment, except to say that it was not in any way a part of the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival.' Army to eliminate 2 Security Force Assistance Brigades, reassign experienced soldiers Why the Army's new XM7 rifle reignited a debate over volume of fire Air Force delay on separation and retirement orders isn't 'stop loss,' defense official says F-35's close call over Yemen raises questions about how it's used An Army unit's 'extreme use of profanity' was so bad, they made a rule about it
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Army's next generation rifle designated M7 amid criticism over performance
The Army has officially designated its newest rifle and automatic rifle the M7 and M250, respectively. The move, which the service touted as a 'major program milestone,' comes weeks after the Army's new rifle came in for some heavy criticism from within its own ranks. Both weapons have now received their type classification that confirms they met 'the Army's stringent standards for operational performance, safety, and sustainment,' the service announced this week. But an Army captain has raised serious questions about the Next Generation Squad Rifle — previously known as the XM7 — including whether the weapon's 20-round magazine provides soldiers with enough ammunition for combat. (The War Zone was the first to report on the criticism, and you can read their deep dive here.) 'The XM7 is a tactically outdated service rifle that would be better classified as a designated marksman rifle, if that,' Army Capt. Braden Trent said during his presentation at the Modern Day Marine exhibition in Washington, D.C., in late April. 'This rifle is a mechanically unsound design that will not hold up to sustained combat on a peer-on-peer conflict.' Trent conducted his research into the rifle as part of his project for the Marine Corps' Expeditionary Warfare School. His views are not endorsed by the Defense Department, Army, or Marine Corps, according to his 52-page research paper on the subject. Sig Sauer, which has been awarded a contract to produce the rifle, pushed back on Trent's assertion that the M7 is 'unfit for use as a modern service rifle.' 'We have a very large staff of individuals that work daily on that rifle to ensure that every aspect of its performance is scrutinized, every aspect of its safety is criticized,' Jason St. John, the senior director of strategic products for Sig Sauer, told Task & Purpose for a previous story. 'We are highly confident that we have provided the U.S. Army soldier with a very robust weapon system that is not only safe, but it performs at the highest levels.' Still, questions remain about whether the rifle, which chambers a 6.8mm round, has enough magazine capacity. The M7 is expected to replace the M4A1, which has a 30-round magazine. Trent said he observed a live-fire exercise in which soldiers equipped with the XM7 burned through most of their ammunition within 15 minutes while trying to suppress a simulated enemy, even though they had borrowed spare magazines from radio operations, medics, and platoon leaders. Brig. Gen. Phil Kinniery, commandant for the Army's Infantry School and Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Georgia, told Task & Purpose that commanding officers ultimately determine how much ammunition their units will carry into battle, and the traditional seven-magazine load could be adjusted. Kinniery also said that the Next Generation Squad Weapon rifle's larger round will give soldiers an advantage on the battlefield. 'From having been in several firefights throughout my career and deployments in Afghanistan and in Iraq, that [6.8mm round] round stops the enemy,' Kinniery said. 'What we're actually bringing to infantry soldiers or, really, the close combat force across the Army, is something that stops the enemy at one round versus having to shoot multiple rounds at the enemy to get them to stop.' Army to eliminate 2 Security Force Assistance Brigades, reassign experienced soldiers Why the Army's new XM7 rifle reignited a debate over volume of fire Air Force delay on separation and retirement orders isn't 'stop loss,' defense official says F-35's close call over Yemen raises questions about how it's used An Army unit's 'extreme use of profanity' was so bad, they made a rule about it
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Air Force surprises troops with sudden deadline for reenlistment bonuses
With the Air Force retaining the vast majority of its enlisted force, the service has burned through its pot of money that many collect for reenlistment bonuses and set a deadline for Monday, May 19, for any airmen still hoping to cash in. Announced Thursday, the deadline gives Airmen in some of the most high-demand jobs just five days to decide whether to extend their Air Force careers by several years. Those who decide after May 19 will no longer be eligible for a cash reward for reenlisting, which the service calls a selective retention bonus. The Air Force has recorded a retention rate of 89.3% since the fiscal year's start in October, an Air Force official told Task & Purpose on Friday. That rate has created more demand for the money set-aside for reenlistment bonuses than in previous years. Two factors, officials said, drained the available bonus faster than anticipated, the official said. The service opened the bonus program earlier in the fiscal year than it has in the past, and in 2024 the Air Force began allowing airmen to accept a selective retention bonus contract by reenlisting one year ahead of their scheduled end of service. As a result, the Air Force expects to spend all of the $172 million provided by Congress for the bonus program early in fiscal year 2025, the official said. On Thursday, the Air Force announced that its most recent selective retention bonus program will end more than four months before the close of fiscal year 2025, which runs until Sept. 30. 'Those who have accepted an SRB [selective retention bonus] prior to the close date will receive their full SRB bonus, including regular bonus payments for those opted into monthly installments,' an Air Force news release says. In December, the Air Force expanded the number of AFSCs eligible for retention bonuses in fiscal year 2025 from 73 to 89. The career fields eligible for bonuses included maintenance, aircrew, cyber, medical and special operations, the service announced in January. The size of bonuses vary by job and by the length of time an airmen agrees to reenlist for, but members in the most in-demand jobs who agree to the longest contracts could earn up to $180,000. The Air Force caps the total amount of money that airmen can receive in retention bonuses during their careers at $360,000. The Air Force added AFSCs to the bonus program after analyzing which airmen had skill that were in high demand by the private sector, a service spokeswoman told Task & Purpose in December. Army infantry officer calls new XM7 'unfit for use as a modern service rifle' Attempted Fort Leavenworth prison break leaves military inmate tangled on fence When Americans, Germans and POWs fought the SS from the walls of a castle This Army combat medic fought off an active shooter and rendered first aid This 53 aircraft 'elephant walk' has everything you'd need for a war in the Pacific
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump touts new ‘F-55' fighter jet and upgrades to F-35s and F-22s
Happy Friday! President Donald Trump indicated on Thursday that the U.S. military is considering purchasing a new fighter jet which he calls the 'F-55,' but many details about the new aircraft remain unclear. 'One of the things for the people that are interested in the military that I've asked to look into — the F-35: We're doing an upgrade, a simple upgrade, but we're also doing an F-55 — I'm going to call it an F-55 — and that's going to be a substantial upgrade, but it's going to be also with two engines, because an F-35 has a single engine,' Trump said in Doha, Qatar. 'I don't like single engines.' Trump did not elaborate on the F-55's capabilities, nor did he specify exactly where the aircraft is in the procurement process. 'We're going to do an F-55, and — I think — if we get the right price,' Trump said. 'We have to get the right price.' It remains to be seen exactly how the F-55 would be different from other advanced aircraft, such as the Air Force's 6th Generation F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance fighter being built by Boeing. Trump also announced plans to upgrade the F-22 Raptor — although the F-22's production line closed in 2011. As always, there's much more. Here's your weekly rundown: XM7 magazine capacity debate. An Army captain's searing criticism of the Next Generation Squad Weapon rifle, the XM7, has reignited a never-ending debate about firepower. The XM7 has a 20-round magazine but chambers a larger 6.8mm round than its predecessor, the M4A1. Task & Purpose reporter Patty Nieberg looks into what is more important in battle, more ammunition or heavy caliber rounds, and how it's not always that simple. More than 120 generals and admirals could be cut. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's plan to cull the number of senior uniformed leaders — which he has dubbed 'less generals, more GIs' — could result in more than 120 active-duty and National Guard general and flag officer positions being eliminated, according to the Associated Press. The Marine Corps would be hit particularly hard by the cuts. At this point, it's still unclear exactly how this will play out in practice, whether commands occupied by general officers will be closed, and if so, what will happen to those senior leaders once they're out of a job. Moving money from the barracks to the border. The Defense Department is considering shifting more than $1 billion from 'base repairs, troop relocation costs and service member pay and benefits' to fund operations along the southern border, Politico Pro is reporting. The draft plan is not final. Army to eliminate two Security Force Assistance Brigades. The Army plans to cut two of its Security Force Assistance Brigades, which were established to help train partner and ally conventional forces. Starting in 2017, the Army created SFAB units to advise Iraqi, Peshmerga, and Afghan forces. The following year, the service announced that SFAB soldiers would wear brown berets following a controversy about whether their headgear would look too much like the green berets worn by Special Forces. Chinese fighters prove their worth. Pakistan has claimed that its Chinese-made J-10C fighters recently shot down five Indian jets, including Rafales, which are made by France. India has not confirmed the kills, but China watchers have taken notice. Retired Navy Capt. Thomas Shugart, of the Center for a New American Security think tank, posted on X that although Pakistan's claims do not prove that Chinese weapons are superior to their Western counterparts, they should 'help dispel the idea 'all China builds is junk, so don't worry that they're building a shit-ton of pretty scary-looking stuff.'' Many thanks for reading this week! Hope you have a wonderful weekend, and remember: Hugs, not drugs — just in case there's a urinalysis test scheduled for next week. Jeff Schogol
Epoch Times
13-05-2025
- General
- Epoch Times
SIG Sauer XM7 Rifle Faces an Uncertain Future With the US Army
Commentary The Swiss-German firm (As a personal side note, I myself carried a .40 caliber SIG's relationship with the U.S. military began in 1989, when the elite Not content to rest on those laurels, SIG also set it sights on the U.S. military rifle contract, looking to replace the venerable M16/AR-15/M4 infantry rifle series, which in one variant or another has Enter the XM7 The XM7 was designed in 2019 and entered into production phase in 2022. Under the rubric of the U.S. Army's The weapon is chambered for the XM7 Specifications Among the tech specs and 'vital stats' (so to speak) of the XM7: Mass: 8.38 lb. (3.80 kg); 9.84 lb. (4.46 kg) with sound suppressor attached Overall length: 36 in (914 mm) with suppressor Barrel length: 13 in (330 mm) Muzzle velocity: 915 m/s (3,002 ft/s) Trouble in Paradise? In March 2024, the 1st Battalion, Related Stories 5/9/2025 5/6/2025 As noted by Peter Suciu 'While speaking at the recent Modern Day Marine exhibition in Washington, D.C., Captain Braden Trent, U.S. Army, presented evidence gathered on the XM7 and offered the very blunt conclusion that it is 'unfit for use as a modern service rifle.'… According to Trent, the XM7 suffered from several serious issues, which caused questions about its reliability. The officer's 52-page report noted that among the shortcomings is the 20-round magazine, which limits the amount of ammunition a soldier can carry. At the same time, it is heavier than the M4 without any notable benefits. Testing also found that the military drills occurred where a potential adversary was within 300 meters, which negated the XM7's longer-range accuracy. In addition, the barrel was found to have excess wear after just 2,000 rounds were fired.' P320 Pistol Controversies As if that weren't enough of a public relations nightmare for SIG Sauer, they're also contending with a spate of horror stories about the aforementioned P320 pistol being Time will tell how SIG Sauer weathers these twin storms. But then again, they've survived for 172 years, and they wouldn't have made it this far if they lacked the ability to fix problems and bounce back from adversity. Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
