caseless weapon is heavier). Assault rifle Design of an LSAT battle rifle began in 2008. Halfway into 2008, the designs are nearing completion. The rifle designs are made to use the same cartridge as developed for the LMG, and this means separate rifles are being designed for the cased and caseless cartridges. Design began with seventeen concepts; after the concepts were investigated and trade-offs were analysed, only two remained for the cased round, and two for the caseless round. The concepts involve two magazine approaches, both of which are focussed on high capacity: one uses the standard approach of placing inside the magazine springs that feed rounds into the weapon; the other uses a 'weapon powered' approach, presumably to reduce the extra weight and space that springs create in magazines. If any of the rifle designs use the same swinging chamber mechanism as the LMG, they should be well suited to a bullpup layout, since the forward ejection of the push-through feed-and-ejection mechanism could easily be extended to achieve full ambidexterity, which is a problematic absence in most bullpups. Even in other configurations, the push-through mechanism lends itself very well to ambidexterity: the G11 demonstrates this. The rifle designs are undergoing the same simulated, structural, and kinematic analyses as the LMG. On May 14, 2014, Textron Systems was awarded a two-year $5.7 million contract for work that included development of a carbine firing cased-telescoped ammunition. Ammunition The cylindrical shape of the ammunition is crucial to the weapon's straight-through feed-and-ejection system, and it is the similar shape of the cased-telescoped ammunition to the caseless-telescoped ammunition that allows the parallel development of the two weapon systems. Telescoped ammunition's most notable benefits include the greater propulsive effectiveness of a telescoped round over standard ammunition, and the shorter feed and action times allowed by the shorter length of a telescoped round (both the cased and caseless designs are roughly 30% shorter). If the weapon and ammunition prove superior to existing weapons, a new caliber may be chosen. An intermediate round with characteristics similar to the 6.5 mm Creedmoor is being considered along with the possibility of using a common round in more roles including GPMG and marksman weapons. While M855 and M855A1 projectiles are being used for comparison and demonstration purposes, consideration is being given to using the creation of lightweight ammo cases as a chance to develop an intermediate caliber cartridge which might