Objective Individual Combat Weapon

The central idea of the program was to develop a rifle that enabled the attacking of targets behind cover by using airburst munitions.

The idea was refined into a combination of a short assault rifle and semi-automatic, low-velocity cannon firing air-bursting munitions.

The OICW aimed to use advances in computer technology in a weapon that fired grenades automatically pre-set to explode above or beside targets hidden from view.

However, the weapon had serious problems: it did not meet weight or cost targets, and the 20 mm High Explosive Air Bursting (HEAB) did not seem to be lethal enough in testing.

As a result, the 5.56×45mm NATO barrel had a length of only 250 mm (9.8 inches), which is too short to generate enough muzzle velocity to be effective as a standard infantry rifle.

An early XM8 mockup after the break up; became part of OICW Increment 1
A working XM25 prototype is tested in 2005; this was part of OICW Increment 2
The final four ACR program test entrants
The Heckler & Koch MP7 , conceptualized in the late 1990s as the kinetic energy component of the SABR (later XM29); the XM29 was put on hold, but the MP7 entered production in 2001
One tester is kneeling with a XM8 Carbine and XM320 attached, the other has the XM8 sharpshooter