It is a godanmed clusterfuck it is the fully self aware military procurement trope about fighting at least one war back , and really it was only one theater that this is applicable for that being Afghanistan because the vast majority of fights actually in the Middle East were qcb in nature and the available body armor in the entirety unlikely event it was worn was easily defeated by the already ubiquitous 5.56 ,7.62,.338 lappua ,.50 bmg and actually sometimes even our 9mm handgun about the only round in limited service that wouldn’t punch was .45 acp that is simply a result of its mission requirements . Making a rifleman hump more weight for rounds that are likely unable to Do significantly more than .308 seems like a backroom deal made to the detriment of the soldiers the only really valuable part of the entire weapons system is likely to be the very smart optics which if employed properly beating the “armor” would be unnecessary as headshots would become almost common. I dont buy the use case as a legitimate reason to swap the most popular weapons system in the world when at significantly more could be possible using existing.308 platforms such as bren 2 or scar or even updated M14 models using the optical system and upping a squads available firepower might better be served through a smart grenadier system utilizing 30mm or smaller smart fused munitions that are programmable as to the method of fusing the on target effects and the option to set for individual circumstances as well as being a not to shabby platform to fire anti drone munitions smart or dumb fused the way i see that being addressed would be through the loss of 3 rifleman 2 using the smart grenades and a secondary saw operator… the value of the suppressive fire inside 400 yards if for some reason we saw an operational need to extend the reach of our capability beyond what is efficient in 5.56 having soldiers cross trained in battle rifles is a better solution than running round that cost almost $6 a piece for what by all accounts have been lackluster field reports…advanced further development of existing combat ready weapons systems is the way forward not a kludged not ready for prime time boondoggle. Regardless of what military wogs predict we still are decades ahead of a near peer conflict the capabilities of the “Near peer” militarys we potentially face corruption , lack of effective leadership,lack or experience all will continue to be albatross’s on the necks of Russia,China,India,Pakistan,North Korea (gimme a break) and the only scenario where this move makes any sense would be a head to head conflict with former nato allies and if thats where we are going next god help us . We are currently being embarrassed by a second world power at the request of our redheaded stepchild who probably should have been not just abandoned but turned first into a 60x60 lake of fire followed by maintained as a flat sheet of glass so nobody forgets