“Thales Australia is developing a new family of high-lethality small arms ammunition, including a 5.56 mm round [not shown] that the company says outperforms 7.62 mm ammunition [shown] at all ranges,” janes.com reports. “The so-called F9 technology is scalable in calibre, from 4.6 mm up to .50 calibre, and is being developed in collaboration with an undisclosed overseas partner, Graham Evenden, Thales Australia’s Director of Integrated Soldier Systems, told IHS Jane’s on 20 August. The initial focus is on 5.56 mm ammunition. Trial batches use a projectile developed by the overseas company, low toxicity, optimised propellant from the Thales-operated Mulwala propellant and explosives plant in southern New South Wales, and cases produced at the Thales-owned Benalla munitions facility in northern Victoria.” Spock! Analysis!

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37 COMMENTS

  2. I’ll believe it when their 5.56 wunder-round can KO targets at 1000m better than 7.62×51. This is just another blended-metalesque scam.

    • Sounds like another R.I.P. scam. If it wasnt they would do more than tease. Besides if it really is that effective the US military would never buy it.

  5. Sure looked like a frangible–I didn’t see anything exiting the far side of that jug. and if it is like most frangibles, that means minimal penetration.

  6. The 5.56 can outperform the 7.62 subsonic. Other than that, the only way the 5.56 beats the 7.62 is with lighter ammo and lower recoil.

  7. I suspect what they meant to say was, “all ranges at which you can score a hit”. The two calibers will never perform the same way ballistically, so even if it manages to have terminal performance more like a .308, it still won’t replace that cartridge at longer ranges (say ~400 yards up). That being said, the military may very well be interested in increased lethality at shorter ranges.

    • Ill believe it when I see it, but I can score hits consistently at 500 yards with 5.56… just saying.

    • Daniel,
      So when does the army worry about money. Besideds the new M855A1 round is probably going to start blowing up rifles in fire fights and wear out barrels to a point of not being able to hit jack at any range. if this round is as effevtive as they claim it will also have to jack up chamber pressures just like they had to do with the M855A1. That would mean all new procurrement rifles would have to be reengineered to be stronger. If they do that how about shortening the case length and use a faster burning powder. It would save a lot of weight and rifle size without loss of performance.

  10. Any time someone develops a bullet that brings the performance of a bigger, heavier, and harder recoiling cartridge to a smaller, lighter, and frankly weaker one, I wonder why they don’t just use the same tech on the larger cartridge and get even better results.

  11. I was attacked once by a plastic jug of red liquid. Okay, not “attacked,” but it hissed at me, or something. So when I shot it, it exploded, but got red liquid on my clothes, and it didn’t wash out. Felt like lose/lose to me.

  12. I’ve heard this same thing about 119 times….and usually about how a new 9mm load is better than anything else that’s ever been developed. (Insert rolling eyes here)

    • Those Russian high pressure ( +p+ IIRC) exposed steel core rounds look like they would do damage.

      When hitting soft things the core penetrates through while the sleeve separates in the target.

      Not a miracle bullet but really nice.

  13. Smack – shaking my head LOL! (SMHLOL?) I’m just glad I wasn’t taking a drink at the time and spew water all over my monitor. Thanks for the cheer.
    cheers!

    • No.

      Karl Lippard made the 1911 variant that is mil/LEO only that is gonna be used in 2100 and beyond.

      I am being serious here, check out his website.

  16. You want the best of both worlds get some light 308 bullets 120-135 and power em up in a 300 blackout/whisper loaded to max length 57.3mm and they shoot dead on at 200 yds. Should produce an fps around 2200 in a 16 inch barrel. Longer barrels will yield more fps. I doubt there can be any 5.56 round that can match it. Plenty of bullets and brass out there to keep costs low too.

  19. My question is which 7.62 chambering are they claiming to outperform. If it’s 7.62×39, then that’s not a terribly difficult task. If they are claiming to do better than 7.62×51, however, I have to call BS.

  20. Thales Australia is actually owned by a French company, so who knows what other claims they’ll make up.

    But Mulwex propellants are world class. Some is imported into the US by Hogden and Vihtavuori after being repackaged. The propellants are very temperature insensitive which makes the loads good for all-year use.

  21. They got special dispensation from the laws of physics. Yep, just ht the bad guy in his left pinkie and it will blow both of his arms and his socks and shoes right off! Love they way they used red die in the water to give that “pink mist” look, as in just shoot the bad guy and turn him into pink mist.

    The P. T. Barnum phrase comes to mind if you know what I mean….

  24. I received some of this ammo for testing. It works quite well except for the exploding barrels and the depleted Uranium mess it leaves behind. My ass was glowing for 400,000 half-lives.

  25. I’d wait and see. You can only pass predictions, not judgment. If it works, we need to pressure the Military into using it. Light ammo combined with .308 deathing is a good thing.

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