It may have been a long time coming, but finally last week the French Ministère de la Défense has officially launched a program to replace the FAMAS rifle. A few days ago a tender notice (N ° 14-70321) was published on BOAMP.fr (the official government website which publishes acquisition notices, similar to FedBizOpps.gov) detailing the requirements for the Future Individual Weapon.

According to the notice:

A total of 90,000 Future Individual Weapons will be acquired.

The firearms will be distributed across the French Army, Navy and Air Force.

45,000 (half) will be a standard length version of the.

The other half will be a short length version.

They will also require 38,000,000 rounds of 5.56x45mm NATO.

51,000 40x46mm grenades will also be acquired (a mixture of different types, half of which will be smoke grenades for training).

Technical documentation, support, spare parts and training material will be included with the purchase

Three to five candidates will be selected to compete.

Back in 2011 the French CEMAT (Chef d’Etat Major de l’Armée de Terre / Chief of Staff of the Army) General Ract Madoux said a tender notice would be published in 2013. Since then French special forces have been adopting other rifles such as the FN SCAR and HK 416.

Thanks to Lionel for the tip.