AAI SPIW
- Category
- Assault Rifle
- Barrel
- 457 mm
- Weight, empty
- 5.00 kg
- Introduced
- 1964
About
What it is, and why it matters
The AAI SPIW is an experimental American assault rifle developed by AAI Corporation for the U.S. Army's Special Purpose Individual Weapon program in the early to mid-1960s. It fired the XM110 5.6mm flechette cartridge, a sub-caliber finned steel dart roughly 40mm long and 1.8mm thick, through a gas-operated smoothbore action capable of a very high cyclic rate in burst. The weapon paired its flechette rifle with an integral three-shot 40mm grenade launcher, fed from a tubular magazine behind the barrel, to give the individual soldier both flat-shooting penetration and area effect. It was never adopted and its development line continued into the XM19 Serial Flechette Rifle.
The SPIW program grew out of Project SALVO, which concluded that multiple small flechette hits could equal a single rifle bullet. AAI's flechette darts flew at over 1,400 m/s, but accuracy, dispersion, and the troublesome integral grenade launcher kept the concept out of service, with development eventually narrowing to the XM19.
Prototype only; never standardized. The flechette used a distinctive piston-primer ignition system. Burst-mode cyclic rate reached roughly 2,300-2,400 rpm, with a lower 600-700 rpm full-auto rate. Weight_empty estimated from the 5.9 kg loaded figure.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- AAI Corporation (Textron Systems)
- Category
- Assault Rifle
- Country
- United States
- Status
- Prototype
- Produced
- 1964 to 1968
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 457 mm
- Overall length
- 1016 mm
- Weight, empty
- 5.00 kg
- Weight, loaded
- 5.90 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Gas operated
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Single action
- Capacity
- 60
- Magazine
- Drum
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Polymer
- Finish
- Parkerized
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Muzzle velocity
- 1402 m/s
- Muzzle energy
- 648 J
- Effective range
- 300 m
- Rate of fire
- 2400 rpm
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Integral grenade launcher
Flechette ammunition
Smoothbore barrel
Three round burst
Drum magazine
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 274 assault rifles | 5.00 kg | 3.59 kg | Heavier than about 90% |
| Overall lengthAmong 271 assault rifles | 1016 mm | 915 mm | Longer than about 90% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 271 assault rifles | 457 mm | 415 mm | Longer than about 70% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 276 assault rifles | 60 | 30 | Among the largest capacities |
Answers
Questions about the AAI SPIW
How much does the AAI SPIW weigh?
The AAI SPIW weighs 5.00 kg (11.02 lb) empty and 5.90 kg (13.01 lb) loaded.
What caliber is the AAI SPIW?
The AAI SPIW is chambered in 5.6mm Flechette.
How many rounds does the AAI SPIW hold?
The AAI SPIW holds 60 rounds, fed from a drum magazine.
How long is the AAI SPIW?
The AAI SPIW is 1016 mm (40.0 in) long overall, with a 457 mm (18.0 in) barrel.
Who makes the AAI SPIW?
The AAI SPIW is made by AAI Corporation (Textron Systems) (United States). It was designed by AAI Corporation.
When was the AAI SPIW introduced?
The AAI SPIW was introduced in 1964 and discontinued in 1968.
How does the AAI SPIW operate?
The AAI SPIW uses a gas operated action, and its firing mechanism is hammer fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- United States Army
- United States
Provenance
Confidence in this record
60%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/aai-spiw' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "aai-spiw", "name": "AAI SPIW", "manufacturer": { "id": "aai-corporation", "name": "AAI Corporation (Textron Systems)", "countryCode": "US", "foundedYear": 1950, "website": "https://www.textronsystems.com", "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "updatedAt": "2026-06-21 23:00:46", "version": "e5da025c597cd46db144f928652cc8a4086810da5d7e7cc7b5faa3f2288277ca" }, "category": { "id": "assault-rifle", "name": "Assault Rifle", "description": "Selective-fire rifles chambered in intermediate cartridges" }, "country_of_origin": "US", "year_introduced": 1964, "barrel_length_mm": 457, "weight_empty_g": 5000, "action_type": "gas_operated"}