The NGSW-AR is the successor to the now-defunct Lightweight Small Arms Technologies machine gun program. Textron’s submission for the NGSW-AR appears to be a reworking of its LSAT prototype, albeit chambered for a new caliber with a few visual differences, including a new stock.
The company that developed both weapons and cartridges to reduce soldier load by about 40 percent now has machine guns in both 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm and a new carbine that fires a round never used across the U.S. military.