As the U.S. military shifts its focus back to fighting more traditional, near-peer adversaries like Russian or Chinese troops, the Services are building out plans to revamp their gear to deal with better-equipped forces backed by money and technology from world powers.
That extends all the way down to the clothing and equipment each of these adversaries could be wearing into battle, including sophisticated body armor.
That’s why SOCOM is reportedly looking at replacing its decades-old armor-piercing small arms round.
“Snipers in USSOCOM units have a capability gap in their ability to penetrate enemy body armor, small boat engines and concrete barriers,” Crane researchers said in a slide presentation at this year’s National Defense Industries Association Armaments Symposium.
The current round uses a discarding sabot that shields a sharpened tungsten penetrator that’ll beat most armor and hard targets.