The Army last week received its first shipment of XM8 carbines, a shorter, lightweight version of the newly added M7 rifle, according to a release. The design is set to replace the decades-old M4A1 for soldiers in the close combat force.
The news comes about a week after the Army revealed it had approved the XM8 carbine. The service said it decided to procure the weapon system — rather than replace the M7 — in December after months of testing.
In an announcement, the Army said the variant had “undergone extensive government testing” to ensure it met “the Army’s rigorous standards for performance, reliability, effectiveness, and user acceptance.”
The Army said soldiers from a variety of units, including the 101st Airborne Division, conducted testing during an equipment evaluation event dubbed “Soldier Touch Point” in September 2025.
Exactly what feedback those soldiers provided remains unclear. The Army did not respond to questions from Military Times about testing or fielding the XM8 carbines.
According to the Army’s Lethality Portfolio, the XM8 carbine was created because soldiers wanted a “shorter, lighter, more mobile version of the M7.”
Like the M7, the XM8 is a select-fire, magazine-fed weapon chambered in 6.8mm. It uses a piston-driven gas operating system, features ambidextrous controls similar to the M4A1 and is issued with a suppressor.
The design also includes a nonreciprocating, left-side charging handle, a collapsible buttstock and a free-floating M-LOK handguard — a modernized rail system developed by Magpul Industries.
By the numbers, the XM8 carbine has an 11-inch barrel, an overall length of 32.79 inches that includes a suppressor and collapsed stock and a weight of 8.8 pounds.
Although testing results for the XM8 carbine are not immediately available, the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation recently published its annual T&E Oversight List.
The document includes performance reviews of the Next Generation Squad Weapons — the series of 6.8mm firearms — but only covers the M7 rifle and M250, the initial weapons in the program.
According to the report, both weapons received generally positive performance reviews, noting that “soldiers consistently qualified with their NGSW and, when firing on the variable distance range, demonstrated the ability to engage targets at extended distances.”
The report also found that the 6.8mm ammunition delivered “increased lethality over the M855A1 (i.e., the standard ammunition for the legacy M4A1 weapon) against the tested targets.”
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