LivingCorpse commented at 2021-09-27 20:40:59 » #2653597

Special Purpose Individual Weapon program. Several companies had made their own version of the SPIW. AAI Corporation, Harrington & Richardson, Winchester and Olin collaborated on one, and Springfield Armory even made a bullpup version. Also at some point it seemed the SPIW program and Project NIBLICK merged.

This is the Harrington & Richardson version. Before there was Steyr ACR and Colt ACR in the Advance Combat Rifle program, the SPIW was was experimenting with the flechette rounds, little needles. These rounds were actually hold overs from an even earlier experimental weapons and ammo program, Project SALVO. The H&R SPIW used a revolver cylinder to load up trounds, basically sabots or telescoped ammunition. Each tround had 3 flechettes. Although the main gun, minus the grenade launcher, has one barrel, that main barrel had 3 bores. The idea was the gun would fire all 3 flechettes out of the tround at the same time or in quick succession of in a burst fire, then dumping the empty tround and load up the next one.

The program would be canceled with no winner, though interestingly enough the H&R SPIW would show up again in another experiment, the Future Rifle System program where it would be modified to fire Triplex rounds, another hold over from Project SALVO, where a single cartridge would hold and project 3 bullets, similar to a Duplex rounds which uses two bullets and I've even heard of one that holds 4 bullets. The H&R SPIW would hold have had three Triplexes in it's tround, thus being able to fire 9 bullets in one shot. Sadly that program also failed.

The flechettes themselves would be experimented with other guns in the Advance Combat Rifle program with the Steyr ACR and Colt ACR.

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LivingCorpse commented at 2021-11-04 22:54:41 » #2662343

The program wasn't a total waste though, it was also merged with a smaller project, Niblick, to create an underbarrel grenade launcher. The H&R version shot 3 grenade rounds which did meet the requirment but was considered too heavy. Ultimately it was AAI's sing shot underbarrel grenade launcher on their SPIW weapon that ironically would result in the M203 grenade launcher being built.

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LivingCorpse commented at 2021-11-04 23:14:38 » #2662344

I should note AAI had multiple grenade launchers, some were 2 shot or 3 shot instead of single shot.

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LivingCorpse commented at 2021-11-06 06:56:24 » #2662632

Also Springfield's underbarrel grenade launcher resulted in the M79.

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LivingCorpse commented at 2021-12-07 14:41:01 » #2670077

And the AAI Grenade launcher was called DBCATA (Disposable Barrel and Case Area Target Ammunition).

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