Special Purpose Individual Weapon

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Special Purpose Individual Weapon
The Special Purpose Individual Weapon at the museum of the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland, United States
Type	Bullpup flechette rifle
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Designed	1951
Specifications
Mass	3.5 lb (1.6 kg) (Project SALVO) 10 lb (4.5 kg) 24 lb (11 kg) 14 lb (6.4 kg) (Project NIBLICK)
Cartridge	12 gauge flechette rounds, XM110 5.6×53mm (Project SALVO)
Rate of fire	2300 rpm (Project SALVO) 2400 rpm (Project NIBLICK)
Feed system	60-round detachable box magazine (Project SALVO and NIBLICK)
Sights	None

The Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) was a long-running United States Army program to develop, in part, a flechette-firing "rifle", though other concepts were also involved. The concepts continued to be tested under the Future Rifle Program and again in the 1980s under the Advanced Combat Rifle program, but neither program resulted in a system useful enough to warrant replacing the M16.