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Some of the old guard in the Army (and/or the ones getting paid, or are trying to secure after retirement employment) may dream of moving back to full power rifle rounds...
But smart money is on 5.56 being the continuing military round of choice, until we get a big leap in ammo tech. Caseless or polymer cased telescoped rounds... That keep weight similar to 5.56, but with better ballistics. I doubt anything over 6.5mm either... Maybe a long'ish 6mm in the 80-90gr range..
New ammo tech is many years away, and it's not going to hit the civilian market hard for a little while after.
The AR pattern rifle (and derivatives) is likely to remain the dominant platform until the arrival of a new ammo tech as well.
It may get some tweaks, updates to the spec to include improved tech and materials, but mostly stay inline with the current rifles. With only changes to readily replaceable parts likely.
I don't see any major shake up being likely for at least a decade... But that's all just conjecture on my part.
Either way, the AR platform will not die for a long time. Too ubiquitous...
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