Advanced Combat Rifle Program U.S. Army: Search For M16 Replacement (TVT20-938)
Channel: Alvis Syuhada
Date: 2016-06-22

This is a footage of 1990 U.S. Army Advanced Combat Rifle Program (ACR) (TVT20-938)

The Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) was a United States Army program to find a replacement for the M16 assault rifle. The program's total cost is approximately US$300 million. Phase I of the program started in February 1986 when development contracts were placed with six companies: AAI Corporation, Ares Incorporated, Colt's Manufacturing Company, Heckler & Koch (H&K), McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems (MDHS), and Steyr Mannlicher.

Two weapons were cut from the list before Phase II started. The companies started an appeals process and were eventually re-instated, but too late to see testing before the ACR program ended.

Eugene Stoner's Ares Incorporated also entered their Advanced Individual Weapon System (AIWS), which used a 5mm tracer round, but had to withdraw due to ongoing problems. The AIWS shared some features with the Steyr entry, notably the "rising chamber" action and "telescoped" cartridge.

Phase III began in August 1989, when AAI, Colt, HK, and Steyr entered weapon testing. Although all the designs worked well, none managed to meet or even approach the 100% improvement over the M16A2 that the program demanded. In 1986/7, the United States Army Infantry School had published a report asserting that the rifle, as a weapon, had already reached its peak, and the only way to really improve matters was to use an exploding warhead. This led to the ending of the ACR program in April 1990, and led the way to the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program. The ACR program was preceded by older programs such as the Special Purpose Individual Weapon.

AAI

AAI Corporation entered the latest variant of their long line of experimental fléchette rifles. Their entry used a standard 5.56 x 45 mm cartridge case firing a 1.6 x 41.27 mm fléchette of 0.66 grams at 1402 m/s. One of the biggest complaints about their earlier efforts was the loud muzzle blast, a problem that is hard to avoid with a sabotted round. As a result, AAI added a flash hider/sound suppressor that reduced the muzzle blast to just louder than an M16A2...

H&K

The Heckler & Koch G11 series used caseless ammunition where the propellant was molded onto the bullet itself, making the round smaller and much lighter. The new K2 version used in the ACR tests held 45 rounds in a single long magazine lying along the top of the barrel, leading to a distinctive and somewhat blocky appearance.

Steyr

The last entry submitted was the Steyr ACR, another fléchette-firing weapon. The Steyr differed from the AAI in the details of the round, which used a plastic shell casing to reduce weight. The firing mechanism was quite complex as a result...

Colt

One of the more traditional of the ACR prototypes was the Colt ACR, which was a highly modified version of the existing M16A2. Modifications were the addition of a new optical sighting system, a hydraulic buffer to smooth out recoil during automatic fire, and a collapsing butt stock similar to the one already in use on the carbine versions of the M16. The key design change was the use of "duplex rounds", a single cartridge with two smaller bullets in it...