Historically the US research and development, procurement, outright f---kery at Springfield Armory and Arsenal, and political shenanigans has just been short of criminal. The poor grunts have been behind the curve of modern small arms, compared with other countries, forever. The most glaring being the sacred cow of the trapdoor, basically a muzzleloader with a breech installed. (ask Custer's men, ask Spanish Amer. war troops with trapdoors against Mausers) Then comes the AR 15, which couldn't be peddled because of it's issues, Colt bought it, bought a bunch of congressmen and generals and sent it into combat with documented failures to function. Grunts died, Jesus wept. Stoner's kick ass AR10 would have worked, but he didn't buy any congressmen. Oh, the Stoner...we can't carry a big enough ammo load....sound like a supply problem to me. M16 as developed is a fine weapon now, but in urban combat it won't punch through cars, in long range engagements in the desert it was lame. Good thing the grunts in the sand didn't have to come up against disciplined units with FN FALs instead of 'AK almost .30-30's'. I think the testing and procurement processes of the US is so corrupt, that if the grunts do get a good weapon, it will be mostly by luck. I know nothing of weapon design, but 80k chamber pressure sounds like an opportunity for Murphy's Law to apply itself. We shall see.
