AAI Corporation Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR):





"AAI
AAI Corporation entered the latest variant of their long line of experimental fléchette rifles. Their entry used a standard 5.56 x 45 mm cartridge case firing a 1.6 x 41.27 mm fléchette of 0.66 grams at 1402 m/s. One of the biggest complaints about their earlier efforts was the loud muzzle blast, a problem that is hard to avoid with a sabotted round. As a result, AAI added a flash hider/sound suppressor that reduced the muzzle blast to just louder than an M16A2. While the standard 5.56 x 45 mm case was used, the rifle was not safe to fire using standard ammunition due to the design of the gas system. A special magazine was used to prevent soldiers loading standard 5.56 mm NATO ammunition into the magazine, but rounds could still be chambered by hand. The weapon was limited to three-round bursts despite the fact that one of the main reasons for using a fléchette is its low recoil. This particular design was less complex than some of their earlier models, which could switch between fléchette ammunition for rapid fire and standard 5.56 NATO rounds for long-range semi-automatic fire."

"The concept was revived yet again during the Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) trials in the early 1990s. Several designs were entered, from the simple Colt ACR to the more interesting flechette designs, such as the Steyr ACR. Although the basic problem of a single-dart flechette round had finally been solved by this time, none of the weapons entered offered the 100% improvement over the M16 that the Army tests required."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Combat_Rifle


AAI Close-Assault Weapon System (CAWS):





"It was revived again during the semi-automatic shotgun-like Close-Assault Weapon System (CAWS) project in the early 1980s. A number of designs were entered and offered fairly good reliability, but the entire concept of a large weapon for use out to 100 yards was questioned and the project later dropped."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Purpose_Individual_Weapon

ARmeiro where do you dig up all this interesting information?  Is not following the successes of Christiano Renaldo dos Santos Aveiro enough?  I'm kinda liking that conical FH on the 12 ga..  Isn't the rifle FH a suppressor also?   Looks a lot like a XM177 FH!  Is it threaded 1/2-28?   Isn't 1402 m/s = 4600 fps?  That's faster than a .204 Ruger.  Talk about screaming.  Could that round be fired out of a AR-15 with any success or is it AR suicide? Lots of questions.  Maybe you should try women's soccer!  Ha! Ha!  Thanks for posting.

AAI Special Purpose Individual Weapon:

http://argenta.anydns.com/ImageShare/LLL/BOS-2722/img0015A.jpg