So if I understand correctly, the new weapon shoots much further than soldiers are capable of using it effectively, has high recoil (making it harder to use effectively?), and sounds like it will eat through barrels? Awesome.
Sounds like a fun sales pitch
"Check this out guys, this NGSW is 10 oz lighter"
"Awesome!"
"Here, try it out, and don't forget your 3 spare barrels"
"What do you mean, 3 spare barrels, they weigh 8 lbs each?"
"yeah, but the gun is 10 oz lighter!"
....
"Holy crap this thing kicks like a mule!"
'Yeah, but it's good to 1200 m!"
"Sure, but I can't keep it on target"
"It has a 23.57% higher kinetic impact then a 5.56"
"Yeah, but I can't keep it on target!"
"But it's got 16.89% better accuracy then a 7.62"
"Yeah, but..."
Still, they procured something, so yeah?
So far for us, for the really big mistakes, we need to wait for the original decision maker and some minions to retire before doing what made sense originally.