What are they talking about? Some sort of French filly? No , about a submachine gun , invented in France patented and prototyped in the USA, codenamed Charlotte.

Many of us in the gun world have a dream that some invention of ours will become the weapon that the U.S. or some major nation adapts or which becomes a commercial success. We all know the names of famous inventors who succeeded at this in the past- Colt, Maxim, Gatling, Thompson, Johnson, Browning and others. We also know that it can still be done from the careers of Gene Stoner, Bill Ruger, Reed Knight and other contemporaries. Well, every one of them would tell you, “It’s not easy!” The Charlotte story is an instructive and interesting tale about a good gun invention, well financed, which is still only battering at the gates of success after 12 long years. This story is not over and it won’t stop any of us from trying but it is a sobering tale of many disappointing close calls. It tells us once again that timing and who you know are everything.

In 1985 a very skilled gunmaker in Paris, Fredrick Tessier, despaired of making significant money by means of the high priced but very time and labor intensive hand-made shotguns that he was justly famous for. He decided to follow the advice once given the American inventor, Hiram Maxim, that the way to make money was to “invent some way for the Europeans to kill each other faster.” In other words invent a machine gun. Tessier quite deliberately and thoughtfully set out to design a submachine gun which would be particularly easy to manufacture and which could even be produced in a simple, low tech shop such as his in Paris. He developed a subgun that at first glance looks like the Beretta model 12.

Tessier built a prototype in France and then talked to his father who was a French Army officer, about patenting it there. His father informed him that if he tried to patent any weapon of interest to the French military, the government would immediately take control of the invention. This was prophetic as far as Charlotte was concerned but not just about the French government.

On the basis of his father’s advice, Fredrick Tessier submitted a patent on the Charlotte design now known as the T-2 on May 24, 1985 and assigned the patent to a company his family had done business with for many years, Shepherd Industries. He was granted U.S. patent 4649800 on March 17, 1987.

The connection with Shepherd Industries is that its owner, Frank Parisette, is a fine wood importer and the Tessier family has been well known in the high grade gun trade as a source for fine French walnut for over a hundred years. Pictures of the French prototype show an absolutely gorgeous walnut pistol grip and fore end, perfectly checkered.

The key claim of the Tessier patent is for a “self contained blow-back type firing unit insertable in a gunbody as a discrete subassembly and including a barrel and bolt with a compression spring acting between them.”

This “subassembly” is held in the “gun body” (receiver) by a nut threaded on the front end of the barrel. The barrel has protuberances which cut through the wall of the barrel surrounding bolt and guide it. The lower of these protuberances is the feed ramp and the upper is just designed to be a guide. These both keep the bolt from twisting as it goes back and forth in and out of battery.

The parts are beautifully made out of solid billets. The amount of stainless steel removed to make this bolt by boring and milling would certainly make a corporate bean counter weep uncontrollably. The design utilizes very few parts, beautifully engineered and expensively manufactured. It is very much like pre WW II Brno designs. Substantial economies could easily be made in manufacturing parts in more pieces and welding or brazing them together into units.

The Shepherd Industries T-2 brochures claim that it is the firing unit’s design that keeps the T-2 from climbing in full auto mode. A test by Colt Firearms confirmed the little climb claim (read on) but as to whether this is the unit or good ergonomics was not clear to the authors until we test fired the T-2.. In any case what Tessier did was take a barrel surrounding bolt ( also known as a telescoping bolt) very much like the Beretta model 12 and put the main operating spring around the barrel to push the bolt forward thus making the unit self contained. The similarity with the model 12 bolt ends there because the Beretta bolt has the spring behind it in the receiver pushing on the rear end of the bolt.

Now before all you RKIs start jumping up and down shouting that this is a bad idea because the heat will effect the temper in the spring and citing the Soviet DP being improved to the DPM and the 1918 BAR being improved to the model D with the main operating springs being moved away from the barrel heat, let us point out a few things.

First this a large diameter spring. Second it only touches the barrel at the breech end and finally that this is a 9mm subgun and not a squad light machine gun firing rifle cartridges. Okay, okay, it is near the barrel, surrounded by the bolt and it is hot in there. However spring technology is probably a lot better than it was. All we can say is that the U.S prototype has been fired 20k plus rounds with the same spring and is still going strong.

Another design point important to Tessier is that there is a shotgun like fore-end which he, as a serious bird shooter, believes leads to instinctive pointing and target acquistion. This is not mentioned in the patent but the other shotgun-like attribute of the center of gravity being ahead of the trigger is. Let us put in here a brief accolade for the CZ 23 which we believe is one of the greatest subgun designs ever. The model 23 is mainly remembered as the gun which had the barrel surrounding bolt and the hand finds hand magazine well years before the UZI.

The CZ 23 solved this spring-bolt problem by putting the spring on the outside of the barrel surrounding bolt. While it still pushes the bolt from behind, about half of the spring length is on the bolt itself. With a little engineering the whole spring could be. The Ruger standard .22 pistol bolt comes to mind as a direction to take. A very neat and compact solution indeed.

In any case the main attraction of the T-2 design is that this self contained firing unit hung from the barrel nut does not have to touch the walls of the receiver at all. And therefore the receiver could be made of anything such as plastic, carbon fiber, aluminum, titanium- i.e. anything. There is no need for there to be friction between the bolt and the receiver and there can be plenty of clearance for dirt . Shepherd Industries has plans for prototypes using alternative materials for the receiver. The current T-2s, while elegant, are all steel tool room prototypes. The magazine is a shortened and slightly modified 40 round Beretta. The shortening is necessary for clearance for the folding stock to swing underneath.

While Shepherd Industries owner, Frank Parisette was waiting for the patent to be issued he showed a prototype to some old Army buddies at Fort Meade. They were favorably impressed and that may have had caused the following consequences.

All of a sudden progress on the patent slowed to a crawl and upon inquiry, Parisette was told that the U.S. Department of Defense has put a hold on it. It took the threat of a law suit and $100k to get the patent out of DOD’s clutches.

Other strange things happened during this period as well. For instance, Colt Firearms approached Shepherd Industries and said that they had heard about the design and wanted to test the prototype. Now this made Frank Parisette wonder who had told them about the design and how did they get enough knowledge about the design to decide that it was of interest to them. Colt did test the prototype later and there was some interest on their part in buying the design. However remember what we said about timing- well Colt was in serious financial difficulties at that time leading up to one of their several bankruptcies and nothing came of their interest. A letter from a Colt Vice President, Arthur Holben, dated Dec 23, 1985 states, “Unfortunately, it being impossible for Colt Firearms to commit the resources necessary to further develop, tool and manufacture Mr. Tessier’s concepts at this time or in the near future etc.”- in other words -”goodbye” This was just one of the unfortunate timings for the T-2. On the plus side however the letter also says that, “the firing demonstration on Nov. 13 confirmed your claim of greatly reduced climb in automatic fire mode. We were impressed.”

Once the patent was issued Shepherd Industries gave the T-2 to the US Army for testing twice at Fort Meade, once at Picatinney Arsenal, once to the Secret Service and once to the FBI. While each of these organizations have verbally complimented the gun not one has given S.I. a written evaluation. Is this a who you know problem?

The Picatinny Arsenal test was for the purpose of finding a new gun to rack up in armored vehicles. This test which was in 1996 compared the Colt M4 carbine, the H&K MP5 and the T-2. The main interest according to Frank Parisette was the ability to get the chosen weapon out of the hatches and into action ASAP. The T-2 was rated best at this although it is clear to us that the MP5 in the test was handicapped by being the SD (silenced) version which is longer and bulkier than a plain MP5. The presence of the SD makes it sound as if the test was rather ad hoc.

While S.I. got very little documentation from all of this testing it did get the attention from insiders in the firearms game. S.I. was and still is interested in selling the design rather than continuing to try to get a large enough contract to support subcontracting mass production themselves. Beretta, for one, was very interested in the idea of purchasing the design.

One would think that having a very similar gun in the Model 12 would make the T-2 of little interest to Beretta. However the Beretta engineers had recognized that the Tessier design could be modified to produce a much shorter weapon than the model 12. Beretta therefore offered to buy the design for the sole purpose of producing as short a version as possible. A contract was drawn up to be signed in 1987. The jinxed timing that has plagued the whole project reappeared right on schedule. Model 92 slides on the new U.S Army M9 pistols started cracking. This put $21 million contract Beretta had in jeopardy and the very controversial adoption of a foreign weapon was back in the news. Beretta was completely distracted by this crisis and the last thing hey wanted to do was start something new. The contract was never signed and the negotiations were never resumed.

The contract makes very interesting reading. Beretta was willing to pay $200,000 for the right to produce the short version they envisioned and the pages which cover their right to sell it through the DOD make it clear that they had a market in mind.

Next to show interest was SIG. They had been attracted by the possibilities the T-2 design offers for quick caliber changes. They were interested in developing a 40 S&W version and more particularly one for the 357 SIG with a titanium bullet which they had developed for the Saudi Arabian government. Naturally to keep Charlotte’s luck consistent, during the negotiations the SIG official whose idea this was, G. Broadbeck, retired.

To test the claim that the T-2’s tendency to climb is unusually low, we fired it in conjunction with both a MP5 and an UZI. All three guns were loaded with the same hot GECO subgun ammo. We fired them one immediately after the other in various combinations. To our surprise it was true that the T-2 seemed to recoil less than both the MP5 and the UZI.

While the cyclic rate of fire for the T-2 was clearly less than either of the other guns, we do not think that this was the reason for the reduced climb and recoil. Rather we think the reason is that the T-2 bolt never recoiled to the point of metal to metal contact. With the hot ammo in the UZI we could feel the bolt hit the plastic buffer and thus the back of the receiver and the MP5 had the hard straight back recoil of a locked gun. If correct this is more proof that the fully sprung internals of the last Stoner designs are the path to follow for lowering recoil.

Take Down of the Tessier T-2

As usual make sure the gun is not loaded. Then remove the magazine. This is key step in the take down of the T-2 because the ejector is a separate piece which is held up in its functioning position by the magazine. By removing the magazine one allows the ejector to turn forward and fall into the mag well thus getting it out of the way for the bolt and barrel assembly removal.

Tessier’s design has cleverly reduced the number of parts to a minimum but he felt that making the ejector a separate movable part was still sensible as it allows easy replacement by driving out the single pivot pin. Not a bad idea really as we have all seen riveted or welded ejectors which have been repaired by pounding, bending, welding, brazing etc. Not by a simple automatically aligned replacement part as in the T-2. Next the knurled nut on the front of the receiver which is holding the barrel-bolt “separate firing unit” suspended in the receiver tube is turned off. Incidentally this nut will be the rear bushing of the silencer version when S.I gets around to that. The latch on the left side of the rear receiver cap is pressed in and turned counter clockwise a quarter turn which will allow the cap to be pulled off to the rear. Holding both the trigger and grip safety down gets the sear out of the way and a yank back on the operating handle which is not attached to the bolt but is captured in a slot in the receiver, will bring the whole self contained firing unit out of the gun. The front of the firing unit is then turned a third of a turn counter clockwise and pressed down to free the spring. This will allow the barrel to be loose enough to be taken out of the feed port on the bottom of the bolt. This completes field stripping. The mag housing , trigger and grip safety housings are welded to the receiver on this prototype. There is a hex key on the back of the receiver cap for removing the pistol grip which exposes the internal parts for depot level repair.

Assembly with a bolt, barrel and magazine for other calibers such as 40 S&W or 357 SIG will adapt the T-2 to fire those cartridges. S.I. has barrels and bolts made up for these but suitable mags are still in the works. In the case of the .357 Sig there is a heavier spring as well. How the .357 SIG is suited to a blowback mechanism is not clear to us yet. We have been told by others who have tried it that the cases come out blown straight sided and look like 40s on the ground. So where does the T-2 stand today. Well, the 12 year struggle to sell the design or get a marketable customer has not daunted Shepherd Industries’ Frank Parisette. He has plans for new prototypes which will incorporate many new design features and manufacturing simplifications. He believes that this will cause a major manufacturer to beat a path to his door any day now.

T-2 Description

Weight 5.6 lbs.
Cyclic rate 550
Barrel Length 9.0 inches
Length folded 16 inches
Length with stock Extended 26 inches

Head Space is the distance from the rear of the cartridge to the face of the bolt when the cartridge is fully seated in the chamber and the bolt is in the locked position.

Check the firearm to ensure it is not loaded. No live ammo or empty casings are needed to set the head space or timing.

With the bolt face is the surface on the bolt that has the firing pin hole in it, not the very front surface of the bolt. The rail lugs are the very front surface and normally make contact with the barrel face when the gun is firing.

The .125 thick portion of the head space, all recoiling parts must go fully forward without being forced. The tension from the recoil spring should be sufficient. In this position, the barrel extension is in contact and flush with the face of the trunion (no gap). You will not be able to see the adjustment notches on the barrel. They will be completely inside the trunion.

If the gun will not completely close to this position, the head space is already too tight. The notches on the barrel will be visible at this point. You must unscrew the barrel one or two notches at a time with the blade of a screw driver, combination tool, or a cartridge point, until the barrel extension closes fully against the trunion face.

Using the Gauge

Pull the charging handle approximately 3/4” to the rear from the closed position. Insert the .125 end of the head space gauge between the bolt face and the barrel face. Turn the barrel in, one click at a time, until the gauge is tight between them. Back the barrel off one click. If the barrel is between clicks, back off to the nearest click, then one whole click. (Head space is set)

When these adjustments are completed with good, serviceable parts and a proper chamber depth in the barrel, the head space will be correct.

One or two clicks in or out may be required for a better performance with used and worn parts or for the use of substandard non-GI ammo.

Common Problems of Head Space Set too Tight

1) The gun operates sluggishly or erratic because the parts are binding.
2) Extraction trouble may occur because of improper locking and unlocking.
3) If the adjustment is very tight and the barrel notches can be seen, the bolt handle will not go fully forward and the firing pin will not drop when the trigger is pulled.

Common Problems of Head Space too Loose

1) A ruptured cartridge
2) Split cases (with good ammo). Bad ammo may have split cases before you fire it.
3) The bolt can be moved slightly from the front to the rear independently of the barrel and the barrel extension.

If problems from a too tight or too loose head space are present after setting per these instructions, turn the barrel one click at a time but not more than two clicks total in either direction from the original setting. If there is no improvement in performance, there is some other mechanical problem with the gun, or there is a problem with the ammo being used.

The only exception to this is the .308 conversion (with an original Israeli .308 barrel). The chamber depth in these barrels is .010 more shallow than a GI type barrel. It would be safe to turn the Israeli .308 barrel two more clicks out beyond these recommended adjustments if the gun shows signs of a too tight head space problem.

All the head space adjustments are done with a charged bolt and cocked firing pin. Do not pull the trigger and drop the firing pin on the head space gauge. It may break your firing pin!

Timing Adjustments

Charge the gun to cock the firing pin and let the bolt drop fully forward. The firing pin should be cocked and inside the bolt face. If the firing pin can be seen sticking out of the bolt face before the trigger is pulled, do not attempt to fire the gun with live ammo. The timing is way too fast. An entire belt of ammo can be fired without the trigger ever being pulled.

With the gun charged and the firing pin cocked, pull the charging handle back just far enough to put the .120 thick portion of the timing gauge between the barrel extension and the trunion. Let go of the charging handle. The gauge is held in position from the recoil spring pressure. Pull the trigger to see if the gun will fire. It should not fire. This is the ‘no fire” portion of the gauge. If the gun does fire, the timing is too fast and will need adjustment.

If the gun does not fire, then pull the charging handle back far enough to remove the gauge and let the barrel extension close so the .030 portion of the gauge is between the trunion and the barrel extension. Pull the trigger. The gun should fire at this setting. This is the ‘fire’ portion of the gauge. If the gun does not fire, your timing is too slow and will need adjustment.

Adjust Timing as Follows

The trigger bar must be removed from the gun for adjustments to be made. The dovetail end of the trigger bare that engages the sear in the rear of the bolt must be bent upward or downward to speed up or slow down the timing. Do not try to bend too much in either direction at one time; small mounts are best. It may take a few tries. This aera of the trigger is thin and semi-soft. It is made that way jut for this type of adjustment.

If the timing of the gun is too fast and needs an adjustment, the dovetail end on the trigger bar will need to be bent upward. In order to know what is upward, you need to look at the trigger bar as if it is in the trigger assembly.

Bending this end downward will correct a slow timing problem and get the trigger bar to trip the bolt sear that much sooner, thus speeding up the timing.

Changing parts or a combination of parts on any gun can adversely affect your timing and head space adjustments. Always re-check these adjustments when the parts are changed in the gun.

At one point, Ohio Ordnance Works, Inc., made the gauge shown in this article. If you’re looking for one, hit them up and maybe they have one kicking around

The year is 2,005. Concern over new threats by Saddam Hussein to use weapons of mass destruction on his neighbors continues to plague the world alliance. U.S. lead ground forces once again are placed in harms way in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to protect the region, but this time things are different. The coalition forces are now committed to ending this threat in the world and eliminating Iraq’s military once and for all. As in operation “Desert Shield” in 1991, the Rapid Reaction forces of the U.S. military are first deployed to the region by the National Command Authority, starting with the Americas Guard of Honor, the famed 82nd Airborne Division.

In the early morning hours, the message is received at Fort Bragg to deploy the DRC (Division Ready Company) to Kuwait once again as the “trip wire in the sand”. The 82nd’s Company B, 2nd Battalion of the 325th Parachute Infantry Regiment is on one hour recall and will be the first unit on the ground to provide an immediate presence until reinforcements from the division, the Marines and heavy armored forces can arrive some days or even weeks later.

However, unbeknownst to Saddam and most Americans, the one hundred or so troopers of B Company are not armed with standard issue M4 carbines and 40mm M203 grenade launchers like all other units in the Division. As the First Unit Equipped (FUE) for the past four months they have been training hard with the brand new Objective Individual Compact Weapon (OICW), a weapon the troops call “thumper”, a name signifying the weapons hard hitting capabilities on the target.

Only into their second full day deployed in fighting positions along the Iraq/Saudi Arabian border, the Iraqis stage a bold and foolish attack on this unique reinforced airborne infantry company, which has now grown to battalion strength. The motorized Iraqi brigade advances on the American forces that they easily outnumber by more than five to one. However, the bad luck of the day has been issued to the Iraqi commander and will cost the aggressors dearly as they have picked B company’s lines to attempt their breach.

The OICW, with its maximum effective range of 1,000 meters and thermal weapon sight, provides the American troops the ability to see, identify and engage with deadly effect the attacking force at more than twice the range of conventional small arms like the M4’s they recently traded for the new “Star Wars” gun. At 950 meters B company’s commander issues the command to open fire and now the carnage begins.

With a flip of a selector switch on the weapon the troopers select the high explosive (HE) module (i.e. grenade launcher) and the PDD (Point Detonating Delay) mode offered by the Target Acquisition/Fire Control System (TA/FCS) of their OICW’s. The 20mm semi-automatic grenade launcher is loaded with six rounds of the newly developed high explosive, dual purpose (HEDP) ammunition, the latest addition to the OICW family of ammunition. Below the 20mm is the small KE (kinetic energy) module (i.e. rifle) for close in use loaded with 30 rounds of 5.56mm M855 “penetrator” rifle ammunition.

The gunners, fully confident in this new weapon system and it’s immense capabilities, place the simple red aiming dot within the TA/FCS on the lead lightly armored Iraqi vehicle in their sector of fire and depress the “lase” button situated along the curved portion of the trigger guard. The night’s sky is of no use in masking the Iraqi force as they had foolishly hoped. The selectable thermal or passive night vision modes of the TA/FCS pierce the darkness turning night into day for the defenders. The erbium glass laser, with pinpoint accuracy of 1 meter at 1,000 meters, flashes against the vehicle and 1/10 of a second later informs the TA/FCS that the target is now at 900 meters, well within the gunners effective range.

The effects of the first OICW HEDP round fired in combat are astounding. The shaped charge of the dual purpose warhead burns it’s way through the thin armor of the Russian-built BTR-90 drivers compartment and explodes within scattering it’s deadly steel and tungsten shrapnel throughout the vehicle. Six of the nine occupants are severely wounded two are killed outright.

The other airborne gunners along the defensive line have similar results against the Iraqi vehicles. The Iraqi commander issues the command to dismount wrongly assuming the vehicles are being attacked with anti-tank weapons and that his infantry would fair better dismounted. The second mistake of the Iraqi force, besides attacking the American paratroopers armed with this new “wonder weapon”, has just been made. The Iraqi infantry, now protected by only their steel helmets and Russian-made body armor, comprised of Kevlar material and titanium plates, become the first order of business for the American defenders.

The Iraqis rush forward firing wildly at the American lines with their AKM’s. B Company’s gunners now switch from 3X to 6X magnification to pick out the choice targets amongst the Iraqi infantry. Inserting a fresh magazine of six high explosive fragmentation (HE frag) rounds, one gunner picks out a light machine gunner armed with a Russian RPK, selects the “AB” mode on the OICW Fire Control System and lases the unfortunate recipient. The digital readout within the TA/FCS, seen above the adjusted red aiming dot, reads 827 meters. Our hero places the red aiming dot on the target and depresses twice the “-” button near by the laser control switch. An instantaneous electronic signal is transmitted to the fuse in the grenade by the fire control system warhead through a coil in the 20mm barrel providing the necessary internal and external ballistic and atmospheric data the round will need to accurately attack the target downrange. When the digital read out within the sight reads 825 meters a simple squeeze of the OICW’s single trigger launches the 20mm grenade at the target. By reducing the range by two meters the gunner has accounted for the forward movement of the enemy squad to insure that the 6 meter air bursting radius of the grenade, twice what was specified in the OICW ORD (Operational Requirements Document), can take full effect on the advancing troops.

In the instance before launch the TA/FCS signaled the warhead that once it has traveled 825 meters it is to air burst three meters above the aiming point. After launch the 1,200-grain, 2.75-ounce grenade counts it’s own rotations as it “flys” to the target at nearly 800 feet per second. Some five seconds later it arrives like a lethal bird over the unsuspecting Iraqi machine gunner and detonates.

The results, like that against the BTR-90, are impressive and deadly for the unfortunate Iraqi troops within its lethal umbrella. The shrapnel from the bimodal (dual fragment) warhead of the OICW 20mm HE Frag round easily perforates the steel helmets and the Russian flak vests. Those not hit drop to the ground to reduce their exposure to the unknown incoming American fire only to provide a larger target for the lethal fragments from the air bursting grenades of the OICW. Within seconds a second round arrives and, for this squad at least, the fight is over.

Iraqi troops scurrying to hide behind their dead or the disabled vehicles are not even safe. For the first time in the history of combat the individual infantryman with the OICW can now engage and defeat targets behind cover, in the defilade. Gunners “add range” to the grenades and fly them around the side or over the vehicle hulks, what with direct fire rifles and grenade launchers used to be the cover, and engage the hidden enemy regardless. Incapacitated, dead or dying, during this battle the Iraqi forces never advanced to a range where their rifles could be used with any real effect on the American defenders.

With the entire enemy force either dead or dying and no sign of reinforcements, Company B is sent to collect the prisoners and help with the Iraqi wounded. With cover from the fourth platoon and their OICW’s in overwatch position, the remainder of the company separates the lower 5.56mm KE modules from the 20mm grenade launchers portion. They attach a simple lightweight buttstock stored in their rucksacks to the 4 pound 5.56mm weapon and advance to survey the carnage they have created against their opponent. All the while they are protected by the OICW’s to their rear and it’s capability to accurate and precisely place a 20mm HE grenade over their heads and in the lap of any enemy solider with bad intentions.

The U.S. force defeats the numerically superior Iraqi motorized infantry brigade after only one hour and without firing a single shot from a rifle. The enemy attack stalled at 700 meters and never advanced within the range of the Iraqi’s individual weapons. Because of this the members of B Company, 2/325 were never in any real danger from the Iraqi infantry. There are no American casualties. The Iraqi’s lose 500 men that lie dead or dying in the fine Arabian sand, not one killed by a bullet. The OICW gunners fired some two hundred 20 mm OICW rounds total for the 100 man parachute company against the attacking enemy infantry at a range twice that of the maximum effective range of their long gone M16A2 rifles and more recently replaced M4 carbines and 40mm M203 grenade launchers.

The future is just around the corner Obviously the above scenario is a hypothetical situation, but one that could be realized as soon as the year 2005 if the current OICW program remains on schedule. In it’s fourth of five phases of development, a small quantity of complete OICW “systems” are currently being fabricated for the conduct of safety and field testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Benning starting in mid to late 1999.

The OICW program is a Joint Service Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) begun in 1994 and managed by the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) located on the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. The OICW is expected to replace some or all of the M16/M203’s and M4 Carbines within select units in all branches of the U.S. military. Performance of the first complete prototype OICW in 1998 from the successful Alliant Techsystems team was so successful that the military hopes to advance the fielding of the weapon in the year 2005 by a full 12 months. (Editor’s Note: Watch for a live fire SAR test as soon as we get the opportunity)

The development team remaining includes the prime contractor, Alliant Techsystems from Hopkins, MN, responsible for system integration and the futuristic HE bursting ammunition. Heckler & Koch, the famed weapons builder from Oberndorf, Germany is developing both HE and KE modules of the OICW, the actual “bullet launchers”. Contraves-Brashear of Pittsburgh, PA is responsible for the design of the Target Acquisition/Fire Control System for the OICW and the integration of a unique target tracker system from a British firm known as Optec. The fourth member of the team, Dynamit Nobel from Troisdorf Germany, of the HK G11/ACR caseless ammunition development program, is involved with developing product improved 5.56mm KE ammunition for the OICW. It is interesting to note that to win the critical fourth phase of development in this program, the “down select”, the Alliant Tech team had to beat out a larger and very capable team lead by AAI with FN Herstal responsible for the weapon.

To describe the OICW it pays to compare it to current fielded weapons, in particular the issue U.S. M16/M203 combined weapons system. Comprised of a 5.56mm select-fire rifle and add-on single shot 40mm grenade launcher fitted with simple iron sights, this weapon system weighs 14.5 pounds loaded with one 40mm grenade and 30-rounds of rifle ammunition. The maximum effective range of this weapon is generally considered to be 460 meters in competent hands. The rifle is the primary weapon in this combo; the grenade launcher being used for area personnel targets and for delivering high explosive grenades to selected point targets. With a thermal weapon sight for use at night the M16/M203 weighs 16.5 pounds and costs an estimated $29,000. A similarly equipped M4A1 Carbine with modular rail system and various targeting accessories with a slightly reduced maximum effective range weighs in at 19.5 pounds reportedly costs the tax payer $35,000.

The OICW is a dual weapons system consisting of a separable 20mm High Explosive (HE) module and 5.56X45mm NATO Kinetic Energy (KE) miniature select-fire “carbine”. In contrast to the M16/M203 the 20mm HE module of the OICW weapon system is considered the primary weapon leaving the KE module for close-in protection or assault roles or for targets where rifle fire is more appropriate, and cost effective. Each component of the OICW can be separated from the other by the operator and used by itself as determined by the mission. For MOUT operations in urban environments, for artillery crews or vehicle drivers the small, lightweight, fast handling KE module with its 8-10 inch steel sleeved titanium barrel would serve well in offensive or defensive roles at ranges out to and including 300 meters. Targets beyond 300 meters become the focus of the OICW’s 20mm grenade launcher.

The OICW 20mm grenade launcher fitted with a detachable pistol grip/trigger mechanism could be used solely as a smaller and more lightweight (@ 8 pound) semi-automatic grenade launcher where the KE module is not required. Firing less-than-lethal munitions the 20mm launchers could also serve well in crowd control operations.

The advantages of the OICW system compared to those of conventional weapons are far reaching. No longer limited to engaging the enemy with direct fire munitions (bullets) the air bursting 20mm grenades offer a leap forward in combat capability not realized before in the history of the infantry. In comparison, the advent of the long bow, self-contained cartridge, rifled bore and the machine gun are small arms developments that certainly changed the nature of battle. However, as revolutionary as these inventions were none had the potential for changing the planning for, the actual conduct of and the outcome of land battle as that promised by the OICW.

The air bursting munitions alone, with their maximum effective range of 2 1/2 times that of the current 40mm low velocity cartridge fired from the M203 for example, will extend the range that infantry can effectively and decisively engage and destroy enemy targets to a range of 1,000 meters, more than one half mile. The precision provided by the laser range finder, ballistic computer and turns-counting fuse in the air bursting 20mm grenade will allow the infantryman to incapacitate or kill outright enemy soldiers without the need to actually hit the target. Like all fragmenting projectiles the probability of hitting the target with shrapnel from the air bursting grenade increases the gunners ability to inflict injury on the enemy without the need to score a direct hit. Anything within a circle greater than 19 feet (6 meter bursting radius) will most likely take at least one hit from the deadly high speed fragments, most of which are sufficient to inflict serious injury, even through most types of protective equipment. Unlike the conventional point detonating grenade, like that fired from the M203 or MK19, the air-bursting grenade does not drive the vast majority of its fragments into the ground upon detonation.

Moving targets, multiple targets, targets obscured by smoke or fog, targets sensitive to damage such as electronic or optical equipment can be easily and effectively engaged without the need for a direct hit. Even slow moving helicopters are potential targets for the OICW. Aiming errors induced by the effects of combat stress that cause misses with conventional rifles will influence to a far lesser degree the high probability of hitting and incapacitating with shrapnel short and long range targets because of the air bursting function of the OICW’s 20mm grenade.

At no other time in our history has the individual warrior had the capability to engage his opponent hiding behind cover or in a foxhole. The air-bursting mode provided in the OICW’s TA/FCS provides for this ability by the man carrying an individual weapon. In the past only indirect fire crew-served weapons like mortars and artillery provided this capability. This ability to hit the enemy nearly anywhere he may hide is very close to becoming reality for the American fighting man. The ability to add distance to the round prior to launch but after lasing the target will allow the OICW user to hit targets around corners, behind berms, inside fighting positions, in vehicle commander copulas, inside buildings either through open or closed windows or even targets hidden behind light building materials. Simply select the fuse mode of operation in the TA/FCS for the grenade and the system does the rest.

In addition to the Air-Bursting (AB) mode the OICW offers a Point Detonating (PD), Point Detonating Delay (PPD) mode, Window Mode for shooting through glass and a short arm MOUT arming mode for use in Close Quarters Combat (normal arming range is > 14 meters). All grenades have a built-in timed self-destruct feature that will detonate the warhead to reduce or eliminate dud rounds in training areas and on the battlefield. The electronic package in the TA/FCS also allows for various modes of operation to include day, night and television for capturing the view of the gunner for direct feed to the helmet display of the future Land Warrior integrated combat ensemble and/or to unit commanders in real time.

A single rechargeable battery housed within the buttplate of the HE module powers the entire fire control system. Should the battery fail, a rudimentary aiming point is provided within the fire control systems field of view which allows effective though degraded target engagements for both KE and HE weapons. Modern portable power sources “batteries” on today’s battlefield are common and generally very reliable. Back up “iron” sights are also molded into the synthetic housing of each weapon module for aiming without the use of the TA/FCS.

The OICW has fully ambidextrous operating controls and is arranged in an over/under configuration. One trigger is used to fire both weapons. A barrel selector switch determines which weapon is fired with a squeeze of the sole trigger. The mode of fire is selected by the left and right sided safety/selector lever and offers semi-automatic fire for the 20mm and semi-automatic and 2-round burst for the 5.56mm module. The KE module attaches to the HE weapon in seconds using operator removable pushpins and an integral locking rail. The KE weapon uses standard M16/M4 magazines inserted forward of the pistol grip. The 6-round 20mm magazine is produced from polymer material and protrudes from the base of the weapon behind the pistol grip making the HE module of the bull pup design. This design allows for a weapon of relatively short overall length.

The KE weapon is gas-operated using a highly modified HK G36 rifle dual gas system with rotating locking bolt and fixed barrel. The 20mm grenade launcher is recoil operated with rotary locking bolt. The barrel and bolt remain locked together during initial rearward movement. The design of the HE module with it’s advanced recoil mitigation system reduces the felt recoil to the shooters shoulder to just slightly more than that of an M16 rifle. The goal was for felt recoil shooting the 20mm grenades of 90% of that from an M14 rifle, a goal that was achieved by the designers on the very first prototype tested by the U.S. government. This low recoil allows for a sustained rate of accurate fire with the HE module of 10-18 rounds per minute, to include the process of lasing the target.

Materials used in the design of the OICW are as advanced as the performance of the weapon system. The barrels of both weapons are produced from lightweight titanium with a steel liner for durability and resistance to bore erosion. During first prototype testing it was determined that both barrels will withstand the firing of more than 10,000 rounds without degradation of accuracy. The weapons exteriors are produced from light weight yet tough fiber reinforced polymer material that resists exposure to temperature extremes, thermal shock, chemical compatibility and decontamination, rough handling and the normal abuse weapons take in the hands of combat Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and special operations personnel. The entire OICW can be field stripped in minutes without tools and is cleaned using a slightly modified 12 gauge shotgun cleaning kit.

Lethality – Will technology pay off?

All of this highly touted technology and advanced materials is nothing more than fancy window dressing, science fiction as opposed to science fact if you will, if in the end the weapon system cannot perform as intended where the rubber hits the road. The entire purpose of the OICW is to increase the combat capability of the current and future infantryman by dramatically increasing his probability of hit and incapacitation. Under the stress of actual combat, errors are induced in accurate aiming and those marksmanship skills otherwise easily mastered making target engagement extremely difficult even by the accomplished marksman. The fact that in combat the enemy often does shoot back, targets are moving, obscured by smoke, concealment or cover or are presented to the shooter at long ranges all reduce the hit probability of the infantryman with individual weapons that fire kinetic energy ammunition (i.e. bullets, buckshot, flechetts, etc.). There is simply little or no room for aiming errors with a rifle regardless of its rate of fire or the type of projectiles it launches.

In the past this elusive goal was not attained through the use of weapons firing multiple projectiles from one case or bursts of projectiles fired at very high rates of fire. The 1960 era SPIW (Special Purpose Individual Weapon) program reversed the roles of the current OICW making the “bullet launcher” the primary weapon and the grenade launcher the area fragmenting weapon, similar to what we have today in the M16/M203 weapon system. Like the Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) program that came along some twenty years after the demise of SPIW, advanced bullet launching technology, to include caseless, duplex and flechette ammunition could not provide the 100% increase in hit probability required to advance that technology to the point of production and fielding.

The air bursting munitions of the OICW program, and it’s sister program the Objective Crew Served Weapon (OCSW), make up for aiming errors which result in clean misses with kinetic energy weapons by showering the target with lethal fragments detonating in the air anywhere within 6 meters from the target. As is the case with hand grenades and horseshoes, close is good enough. However, the OICW throws that horseshoe 1,000 meters with accuracy well within the lethal footprint of the grenade.

A second and more revolutionary advantage of the air bursting munitions of the OICW is the ability for the first time in the history of ground combatants for the warrior to engage the enemy behind cover or in the defilade. Never before has the infantryman been able to engage targets behind corners or inside fighting positions or behind a berm with his individual weapon. These were targets that only crew served weapons such as mortars or artillery could effectively engage. Rifle grenades, 40mm grenades fired from the M203, mortar rounds that detonate upon impact with the ground drive much of their lethal payload into the earth. Air bursting munitions provide a far greater potential for hits on target and thus incapacitation of the intended recipient than point detonating munitions.

Cost Effectiveness

What is the cost of state-of-the-art small arms technology? Is the payoff worth the price? If the results of the very first full OICW system tests in January 1998 are any indication, the future potential of the OICW looks extremely promising. The OICW will change the way in which the American military fights battles just as the long bow did and the machine gun and tank centuries later. America’s unfortunate enemies will be at a great disadvantage when faced with the awesome combat capabilities of the OICW and the overmatch performance it will provide to its users.

The current forecasted unit price of one OICW complete with its TA/FCS is approximately $10,000 compared to the $620 cost of one M16A2. However, one must be careful to compare apples to apples. The $10,000 unit price of the OICW includes its thermal module, built-in laser range finder, sensors and ballistic computer, passive night vision and video capability not to mention separable weapon modules. This cost can be directly compared to the M16A2/M203 with thermal and passive night vision sights which is reported to cost Uncle Sam @ $29,000, or @ $35,000 for the M4A1 carbine similarly equipped.

Projected 20mm ammunition costs are @ $30 per round versus that of the current M433 40mm round. However one is wise to keep in mind the 1,000 meter range, air bursting lethality and the critically important pounds per kill weight ratio in which the 20mm OICW grenade clearly has the advantage. The charts below graphically depict the cost versus weight versus effectiveness arguments in favor of the OICW 20mm air bursting munitions over the current M203 40mm low velocity, point-detonating M433 grenade.

The future is here

The Alliant Techsystems candidate OICW system performed superbly in the Phase 3 down-select tests that eliminated the formidable AAI team from further consideration. The Alliant Techsystems weapon met all seven of the mandatory exit criteria and exceeded four of the seven. With years of additional R&D time to perfect, lighten and toughen up the OICW one can expect the OICW prototype of today to become even leaner and meaner beyond it’s already advanced capabilities.

Short of carrying a thick Kevlar, titanium or steel umbrella, if the OICW progresses as expected enemy troops opposing U.S. forces will quickly learn the hard way that with OICW, there is no place to hide.