New weapons - XM5 and XM250
The Army is planning to replace the M4 carbine and M249 SAW for infantry, cavalry scouts, forward observers, and other soldiers who are considered likely to engage in close quarters combat. The new guns are supposed to start delivering in late 2023, and are the XM5 rifle and XM250 automatic rifle/light machine gun. They fire a new 6.8x51mm round, which has actual dimensions of 7.01x51.2mm. The XM5 is 4.44 kilograms when loaded with a 20-round box magazine and has a 33 centimeter barrel, while the XM250 takes a 100-round semi-rigid box to mass 8.97 kilograms with a 44.4 centimeter barrel and an integral bipod.
XM5 rifle
Wt 4.44, ROF 3, Mag 20, Dam 4, Pen 2-Nil, Bulk 6, SS 4, Burst 6, Rng 38
XM250 automatic rifle
Wt 8.97, ROF 5, Mag 100, Dam 4, Pen 2-3-Nil, Bulk 7, SS 3, Burst 7, Rng 48/62
Fire, Fusion & Steel wants these to have much longer barrels to handle the energy of the round. They end up with roughly the same range as the weapons they're replacing, but with slightly more damage from the XM5 and slightly better performance against armor from the XM250. Those are pretty much what the new weapons are intended for, giving better performance against opponents in modern armor, so I'm fairly pleased at how their stats came out in FF&S.
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The Vespers War - Ninety years before the Twilight War, there was the Vespers War.
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