LSAT Rifle - Design Progress

Design Progress

The rifle design began with seventeen concepts; however, after the concepts were investigated and trade-offs were analysed, only two remained for the cased round, and two for the caseless round. The two designs for each ammunition type revolve around two magazine approaches. One uses the standard mechanism, with springs inside the magazine feeding rounds into the weapon; the other uses a 'weapon powered' approach, presumably to reduce the extra weight and space that springs create in magazines. Both magazine designs are focussed around high capacity. The rifle designs are undergoing the same simulated, structural, and kinematic analyses as the LMG. Both a working rifle and accompanying ammunition prototypes have been made, but it uncertain if or when the program will result in a new rifle for the US military.