Posted on 11/15/2008 8:29:49 AM PST by re_tail20
As the Army scales back on its M4 carbine buys, the service’s top official said Thursday it’s time to look for the next carbine soldiers will carry into battle.
Secretary of the Army Pete Geren’s comments set the tone for the small arms industry day that drew 19 companies from across the country to Washington, D.C., with the hope of replacing the service’s M4 carbine.
“Today is an important step in an effort to ensure that our soldiers always have the best,” Geren said. “Not just the best today, but the best tomorrow.”
The Army-sponsored event is the result of a “request for information” the service put out in August to assess what the U.S. small arms industry is capable of producing.
The Army purchased of the remaining balance of 473,000 M4s Wednesday, which will be delivered over the next two years, Geren said.
“That completes the Army acquisition objective for the M4,” Geren said, adding that the service would continue to buy the M4 in reduced quantities to maintain adequate replacements as needed.
The M4 is the Army’s primary individual weapon. For more than a year, it has been the subject of increased scrutiny by lawmakers on Capitol Hill concerned about whether soldiers have the best available weapon.
Geren said the goal of the event is to help the Army determine what is “achievable in terms of carbine technology.”
This is the first step toward a carbine competition the Army intends to open next year after Colt Defense LLC, the company that makes the M4, turns over the weapon’s technical data rights in June 2009. When that happens, the Army will have the opportunity to improve the M4 or buy a new carbine.
Geren has directed the Army to update its requirement for a carbine to reflect the current and future needs of soldiers.
The new requirement is scheduled to be completed by the end of the calendar year and approved by next summer, said Col. Doug Tamilio, Program Executive Office Soldier’s project manager for Soldier Weapons.
Provided that the new carbine requirement is approved and funding is available, the Army will issue a formal request for proposal for a new carbine to gun makers late next year, Tamilio said.
That firearm looks like 3 main rifles had a love child.
How the third got in there, I don’t want to know...
I’ll take an HK416 myself.
Thanks for the posts and the links. Very interesting.
Forget it. The military will be lucky not to have their projectiles made from nerf foam.
Hahahahahaha
I’ve played Halo 3 enough to know those are Covenant arms.
I look beyond my M4 whenever I line up the sights on a target.
There is no such thing as 'overkill' in a combat situation.
L
Yea but it’s a wet heat!!! ;-)
Ha ha! Yah, it's a little funky looking I'll grant you that.
The upper receiver looks weird because they cut off the M-16/AR-15 carrying handle, but kept the M-16/AR-15 rear sight and put on a ringed front sight. Since it uses an AK-47 gas system with piston and telescopic recoil spring, they were able to incorporate the FN-FAL folding stock. They cut down the buttstock to give access to the charging handle and mag release when it's folded. So, the weird look is a form follows function thing.
Once you get past all that and shoot it, you realize what a great .22 rifle it really is. IMO, head and shoulders above an AR-15.
As I understand it, Daewoo had the license to manufacture the M-16 for the ROK Army. When the license ran out, they took what they consider the best of three rifle systems (M-16, AK-47 & FN-FAL) and put them together to make the K2.
The K1 was based upon the Armalite AR-18 gas system, so it's a horse of an entirely different color and a piece of junk when compared to the K2.
Like I say, it's robust, reliable and accurate. It's like the Energizer Bunny. It keeps going, and going, and going...
Here's what it looks like with the buttstock folded.
You can still buy the M1A which is the same as the M14. pricey though
bttt
That’s looks like 5.56 NATO, not .22 to me.
The ‘long carbine’, aka M-14, was the best. Try it in something around 7mm and maybe in the ‘Socom’ configuration.
I variously carried an M16, Car15, M79, Thompson SMG, and M3 ‘Grease Gun’ and none of them worked as well as the M14.
As for uncontrollability on full-auto, incorporate a three round burst feature ala the M4.
The M14 was also the easiest to keep clean in the field.
I don’t know if it is true or not but have read that the main drawback to caseless ammor is heat. The brass (or whatever it happens to be made of) cools the chamber when first inserted, then removes a lot of heat when it is fired and ejected.
the propellant in a caseless cartridge, simply adds heat and it builds so rapidly that the cartridges are capable of cooking off. A cooling system would add bulk and weight as well as something else to tear up.
Take it from me, NOTHING is overkill in a close quarter combat situation!
My AR 15 is locked and loaded and ready.
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