A North Carolina unit is the first in the National Guard to field test the new SIG Sauer-made XM7 and the XM250, which is replacing the M4/M4A1 carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, respectively.
The 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, a National Guard outfit that carries the “Old Hickory” lineage of the World War I & II era infantry division of the same number, earlier this month conducted a qualification table range session with the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon platforms at Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), North Carolina.
The unit is the first in the Guard to receive the XM7 and XM250, just months after the first regular Army unit, the famed 101st Airborne Division, began receiving their NGSWs.
A soldier of the 30th ABCT, a North Carolina Army National Guard unit, with the XM7 on the range at Fort Liberty earlier this month. (Photo: Cpl. Nigel Hatcher/U.S. Army)
This comes as ADM Daryl Caudle, commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command, toured SIG Sauer’s new Academy and SIG Experience Center in Newington, New Hampshire, earlier this month. Images released by the Pentagon show Caudle and staff inspecting the state-of-the-art facility where over 480,000 M17 and M18 handguns have been produced for the military thus far.
And include Caudle handling an NSGW.
240610-N-XX999-1001 NEWINGTON, N.H. (June 10, 2024) Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, examines a firearm during a leadership meeting and tour at SIG SAUER Academy and Experience Center (SEC) in Newington, New Hampshire, June 10.
Of note, the Marines have been interested in the platform going back to 2020.