IT LOOKS like something more likely to be found in Terminator than on our soldiers, but the jointly developed weapon between Colt and Defence Research and Development Canada could be the gun our soldiers fight with in the future.
It doesn’t have an official name yet, but it’s being touted as the gun that can do it all, and has been in development since 2009. It’s designed in the NATO standard “bullpup” style, where the ammunition magazine is placed at the back of the weapon, rather than the front. This is similar to how Australia’s current weapon of choice, the F88 Austeyr is designed. Like the Austeyr, it also fires the same NATO standard 5.56mm calibre bullets.
On the top of the barrel, soldiers can attach either a 12-gauge shotgun or a grenade-launcher capable of holding up to three rounds at a time.
The most advanced part, however, is that
the gun will include networking abilities that will allow it to receive data from back at base as well as the ability to find, aim and shoot at a target all by itself.
While the gun itself is still in early development stages, military leaders want this to be the weapon of choice in the future.
“In the medium term, this weapon concept represents a lethal, flexible general-purpose platform,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Serge Lapointe from the Canadian Army. “It will be able to operate in all theatres of operations in the most complex terrain including urban areas, mountains, jungles, deserts and the Arctic.”
Colt famously designed the Colt. 45 revolver after the American Civil War. It evolved to become a staple weapon for military and law enforcement across the world and is often the gun portrayed by cowboys in Western films.
It may be a few years away from being put into the battlefield, but the DRDC has a video up already to scare the hell out of you.
Source.