Objective Individual Combat Weapon

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See XM29 OICW for more information on that subset of the overall program

A working XM25 prototype is tested in 2005; this was part of OICW Increment 2

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OICW prototype; similar to the planned OICW Increment 3

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Early Springfield Armory SPIW prototype (Circa 1964)

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Final Springfield Armory SPIW prototype (Circa 1966)

The Objective Individual Combat Weapon or OICW refers to the next-generation service rifle competition that was under development as part of the United States Army OICW program. The acronym OICW is often used to refer to the whole program.

It was started in the aftermath of the Advanced Combat Rifle (or ACR) during the 1980s. Like the ACR program that came before it in the 1980s, it has largely been a failure in terms of achieving the specific program goals (e.g. replacing the M16) and has cost millions of dollars, but has resulted in many innovative weapons and weapon concepts as well as offshoot programs of its own.

Background of the OICW project

The history of the one of the most ambitious projects in the history of small arms began late in 1986, when the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning published a military paper named "Small Arms System 2000" (SAS-2000). Despite the then-current trends towards caseless and flechette ammunition and weapons being developed for the Advanced Combat Rifle program, this paper stated that conventional small arms had already reached their technological peak. It was argued that the only way to increase the hit probability in small arms was to introduce a weapon that combined the ability to fire explosive and fragmentation warheads with smart fusing and sighting/aiming technologies. (See also: SPIW.)

While most small arms research during the late 1980s in the USA was conducted under the ACR program, the idea first developed in SAS-2000 was supported by another US military paper, published in 1989 by the US Army TRADOC (Training & Doctrine) center. This paper, called "The Small Arms Master Plan" (SAMP), requested a new family of infantry "Objective" weapons, namely the Objective Individual Combat Weapon (OICW), Objective Personal Defense Weapon (OPDW), and the Objective Crew Served Weapon (OCSW). The SAMP stated that such weapons must utilize the latest developments in computers and visual technologies, as well as in small arms, and combine both high explosive warheads and traditional bullet firing capabilities in a single weapon that should be fielded circa 2000. Of course, the timelines and most of the weight and cost requirements set in this paper looked unrealistic from the start, but the development of the Objective weapons series began in the early 1990s.

Development

The central idea of the program was to develop a rifle that enabled the attacking of targets behind cover by using airburst munitions. The munitions were to be much smaller than pre-existing grenades and grenade launchers, but large enough to be effective. The idea was refined into a combination of a short assault rifle and semi-automatic, low-velocity cannon firing air-bursting munitions.

The winners of the first competition for the project during the 1990s were ATK and firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch with the XM-29 OICW. They went on to build numerous prototypes of the rifle for the United States military in the late 1990s. These projects centered on using a programmable 20 mm airburst munition-firing rifle by itself or with other projectile-based weapons attached. The 20 mm launcher was analyzed in various configurations, including a launcher by itself, with a 5.56 mm weapon (based on the HK G36), or with a MP7 submachine gun. At the time, both those weapons were still in development, with the U.S. effectively indirectly subsidizing two commercial H&K products.

By the early 2000s, the weapon had settled on a design and was classified as the XM29. However, the weapon had serious problems - it did not meet weight or cost targets, and the 20 mm smart grenades did not seem to be lethal enough in testing.

This resulted in the army starting development on new weapons, and finally shelving the XM29 in 2004. The kinetic energy component split off into the XM8 rifle program and the airburst component developed into the XM25 airburst weapon. According to a presentation by Major Kevin Finch, Chief of the Small Arms Division of the Directorate of Combat Developments at the U.S. Army Infantry Center, there were three main parts to the OICW program.

Increment 1 (OICW 1) was a competition for a whole weapon system family similar to the XM8. The weapon system was to potentially replace the M4 carbine, M16 rifle, M249 light machine gun and some M9 pistols. Other arms companies had contended that the OICW project goals had changed enough to warrant another competition. Potential challengers could include a weapons system based on an updated M16, the Steyr AUG, the aforementioned FN SCAR, and potentially any other manufacturer that fulfilled the Army requirements for participating. It also listed the shotgun being replaced by a modular shotgun system (XM26 LSS) mounted on the OICW 1 winner.

The Increment 1 portion was put on an eight-week hold in July 2005, primarily to take into account input and needs of other services. On October 31, 2005, the OICW I program was cancelled. The reason given for the cancellation was stated as: "This action has been taken in order for the Army to reevaluate its priorities for small caliber weapons, and to incorporate emerging requirements identified during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Government will also incorporate studies looking into current capability gaps during said reevaluation."

OICW Increment 2 was a stand-alone airburst weapon (the (XM25). This is a standalone launcher that uses bigger 25 mm munition, and was intended to be a special applications and support weapon, not an individual combat weapon as previous models were. In 2005, the weapon underwent limited field trials and combat testing.

OICW Increment 3 was the XM29. The M203 was listed as being replaced by a combination of Increments 2 and 3. The M249 was also to be partially replaced by a lightweight MG (LMGA, now LSAT), which was listed as being the successor to the M60 and M240.

Overview of OICW related weapons

In the aftermath of the ACR program, the OICW program began. There were two main contenders, one design by AAI and its companies, and the other by ATK (with H&K and other companies); ATK and H&K won.

Original OICW Concept, OICW program targets drafted (circa 1980s/early 1990s)
OICW concepts/prototypes in 1990s
- 20 mm smart grenade and 5.56 mm rifle in side by side configuration
- 20 mm smart grenade stand alone unit
- 20 mm smart grenade and MP7
- 20 mm smart grenade and 5.56 mm rifle in over-under configuration (XM29 OICW)

Program temporarily suspended circa 2004. Restarted with separate 'increments' for different weapons.

Some weapon programs involved with, stemming from, or using technology from the OICW project
- XM1018 (HEAB Ammunition)
- XM8 (5.56 kinetic energy component)
- XM25 (Uses low velocity 25 mm smart airburst munition)
- XM109 (Uses 'high velocity' 25 mm 'dumb' version of smart munition)
- XM307 ACSW) (Uses 'high velocity' 25 mm smart airburst munition; autocannon)
  - XM312 (.50 BMG version of XM307)
- MK47 (Mk 47 Mod 0) (40 mm automatic grenade launcher capable of using smart 40 mm airburst grenades)
- Land Warrior
- XM26 LSS (A lightweight shotgun attachment)
- XM320 (40 mm grenade launcher)

External links

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