Pennsylvania’s Geissele Automatics last week picked up a fat contract from the U.S. Special Operations Command.
The 10-year award has a maximum ceiling of $29,263,029 for what SOCOM describes as “a new sniper support weapon, designated marksman, rifle taking advantage of advances in ammunition and weapons technology to improve the intermediate range sniper rifle lethality, reliability and performance when suppressed during 50-1,500-meter engagements.”
The background on the award is part of the MRGG-S, or Mid-Range Gas Gun (Sniper) program (“Margie-Es”), which would be used primarily by the Naval Special Warfare community. The fortune cookie version of the MRGG-S requirements was a full-time suppressed 6.5 Creedmoor rifle with a 20-inch barrel, MOA accuracy, fully adjustable stock, and strict weight/dimensional requirements. Other requirements included a low-backpressure suppressor and the ability for the user to quickly swap out the 6.5CM barrel to one chambered in .7.62 NATO in under five minutes.
First kicked off in 2019, MRGG-S has seen most of the big names in precision military rifles submit variants for consideration, including FN and LMT.
At the end of the day, however, it seems Geissele has gotten the nod for the new frogman sniper rifle.
This thing, seen largely as the replacement for the FN SCAR 20 in use by SOCOM
More in my column at Guns.com.