(I apologize for the photo quality. The lighting in this building was very harsh)
The Special Purpose Individual Weapon was part of a long-running weapons development program to develop a flechette-firing weapon that was supplemented by a grenade launcher. Rock Island Arsenal’s Weapons Command received the project in 1962 as part of the organization of Army Materiel Command.
Four competitors submitted weapon designs: Harrington & Richardson Arms Company, Winchester Arms, AAl Corp., and Springfield Armory. Trials were held in 1964 with both Winchester and Harrington & Richardson being eliminated.
When Springfield Armory closed in 1968, AAI Corp. took over as the lead on the project and developed the XM19. By 1979, the Army concluded the XM19 did not meet the needs of the program, and it was abandoned. Despite its cancellation, the project’s work on grenade launchers led to the development of the XM203, adopted in 1969 as the M203 40-mm. grenade launcher. The M203 replaced the M79 launcher.
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By 1979, the Army concluded the XM19 did not meet the needs of the program, and it was abandoned.
The future they stole from us
The Steyr entry to the 1990 ACR trials revived the flechette idea, however it encountered some of the same issues as the SPIW program and was not selected.
What are the benefits of flechettes?
Low recoil, low ammo weight, flat trajectory, good potential penetration of armor. On paper a promising direction to go based on the SALVO research.
Flechettes have had problems around the necessary-to-function discarded sabot material creating a hazard both to nearby friendly soldiers and to the shooter themselves because of ricochets. Some designs had problems with inconsistent point of impact due to the inconsistent nature of the ammunition. I’ve also seen that it has been said they deflected too easily through even thin intervening materials, and even rain causing accuracy problems (though I can’t source that off the top of my head).
