The Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) was a United States Army program to find a replacement for the M16 assault rifle. Under the stress of battle the average soldier with an M16 could guarantee hitting a target at 45 meters, but hit probability was reduced to one out of ten shots on target by 220 meters. Because of this, The ACR program was initiated in the late 1980s to create a weapon that could double the hit probability. The ACR program was preceded by older programs such as the Special Purpose Individual Weapon.