Is the Objective riffle fielded yet?

Question

I read that the us army is developing a series of weopon called "Objective". Its includes a riffle, a sniper riffle and a replecement to MRE:s (Meals ready to eat) How far has they come and are the weopons fielded yet? Johan

Answer 1

The 'Objective Combat Rifle' (OCR) was a flop. Too bulky, too heavy and used too many batteries. The fancy 20mm grenade launcher never worked right under field conditions.

The OCR was to be replaced by the M8 series of rifles. However the troops in the field wanted this rifle to use a heavier bullet (6.8mm) while the civilians at the Pentagon wanted to retain the 5.56mm (less expensive). Rather than have an ugly and public battle between the civilian leadership and the troops in the field - the project was dropped.

Answer 2

No, the new rifle was a bit too heavy, and the program way too expensive, so the entire program has been shelved for now. MRE's have nothng to do with this. There have been upgrades to them over the years, and Special operations have there own version now which are less weight and size, but have considerably more calories..

Edit: m1a1 has it too. The XM8 was flop, the design left alot to be desired as far as ergonomics and the operating system. There isn't anything wrong with the M-16 platform so why change it? While I like the 6.8mm SPC, M-16's can be easilly converted to use it, however I can easilly see using the most effective 5.56mm round developed, the 77gr Mk262. And thusly, I think its more cost effective to upgrade the ammo, and not replacing the whole system and the supply chain for it.