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Congratulations to the Product Manager for Small Arms and Close Combat Armament Center for the Type Classification Standard of the Cartridge, 7.62mm Armor Piercing, M993 and Cartridge, 5.56mm Armor Piercing, M995, which were Type Classified Standard Feb. 16 and Mar. 29 respectively.
These two cartridges will substantially increase the capability of the soldier with 5.56mm and 7.62mm weapon systems, i.e., the M16A2 Rifle, M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, M4 & M4A1 Carbine, M240 and M60 Machine Gun, and M24 Sniper Weapon System.
The core development team for these cartridges consisted of Peter Errante, Michael Friedman and Alan Li from PM Small Arms; Walter Schupp, Michael Prussack and Kristin Vogelsang from CCAC; Leonard Cichucki, Rich Douglas and Eduardo Sese, from the Product Assurance and Test Directorate and Rudy Nedelka and Andy Rose from the Aberdeen Test Center at Aberdeen, Md.
Both programs are part of the congressionally-mandated Soldier Enhancement Program which is managed by PM Small Arms, located here. The objective of SEP is to provide the dismounted soldier, as quickly as possible, with items that will enhance their capability in the area of lethality, survivability and comfort. This is accomplished through Non-Developmental Item programs, wherein an item that is available from the commercial marketplace or other government agency can be adopted for Army use with minimum or no modifications.
These cartridge programs have undergone the same generic SEP acquisition strategy. Market surveys were conducted to determine the availability of commercial products that would meet the critical operational requirements for the programs. Several candidates were submitted in response to the market survey. Confidence tests were conducted to downselect one candidate with which to conduct Technical Testing and Type Classification. In both programs, Bofors CGAB, Sweden was the selected candidate. Bofors was awarded contracts to produce hardware for the TT, and TT was conducted at the Aberdeen Test Center, formerly Combat System Test Activity, Aberdeen, Md. The fiscal 1996 Defense Budget approved two million dollars each for the production of the 5.56mm and 7.62mm Armor Piercing cartridges. The rounds were then Type Classified Standard and initial production contracts have been awarded to Bofors CGAB, Sweden for both cartridges.
From Bofors:
5.56 and 7.62 mm Armour Piercing Ammunition
The new-generation armour piercing ammunition from Bofors Carl Gustaf for assault rifle or machine gun is designed for full effect against modern targets.
The 5.56 AP round penetrates 12 mm armour plate of 300 HB at 100 m. The 7.62 AP round penetrates 15 mm armour plate at 300 m. It also penetrates 120 mm Plexiglas helicopter protection and is highly effective on brick and concrete walls and causes no barrel wear.
Cartridge, 7.62mm AP, M993 and the Cartridge, 5.56mm AP, M995 are similar in design. Both cartridges employ a tungsten core within a jacketed bullet envelope. The projectiles are crimped onto a brass cartridge case with a standard propellant charge. The shaped tungsten core provides enhanced armor penetration over the standard issue cartridges.
The M993 7.62mm AP round enhances the performance of the M60 and M240 7.62mm machine guns and the M24 Sniper Weapon System over the M80 Ball by effectively increasing the engagement ranges against lightly armored targets.
The M995 5.56mm AP round provides the 5.56mm weapon systems M249 machine gun, M16A2 Rifle, and M4 & M4A1 Carbine, with the increased capability to penetrate lightly armored vehicles and fortified positions at extended ranges. Currently, there is no AP cartridge in the 5.56mm cartridge inventory.
In today's world environment quick response to conflicts in different regions around the world necessitates a light and rapidly deployable combat force. These forces may face various concentrations of lightly armored threat forces with varying degrees of weapon sophistication. By providing our soldiers with these AP ammunitions, we increase the lethality of their current weapon systems and increase the number of systems that will be able to defeat these threats. Therefore, by increasing the firepower of our early entry forces, we increase their survivability.
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