Posted on 07/01/2010 10:04:14 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The Marine Corps will field its new, lightweight auto rifle this fall to five combat battalions preparing for war-zone deployments.
Commandant Gen. James T. Conway gave Corps officials the green light in April to issue approximately 450 M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles, enough to replace every M249 squad automatic weapon in four infantry battalions and one light armored reconnaissance battalion.
The limited fielding is a final test to find out if the Heckler & Koch-made weapon performs as well in an operational environment as it has in testing, said Charles Clark III, who oversees infantry weapons requirements at the Corps' Combat Development and Integration office at Quantico, Va.
"The battlefield test will be a verification of what we have already established through extensive operational testing," Clark said. "We want to get a user assessment prior to full-rate production." Conway's decision comes despite his past concerns about replacing the M249 with a magazine-fed automatic rifle. His main worry is whether the M27's light weight and accuracy will be enough to make up for the loss of suppressive firepower Marine gunners will give up when they go into battle without the belt-fed M249.
Program officials acknowledge that a 30-round magazine cannot produce the high volume of fire the M249 is capable of when loaded with a 200-round belt. The Corps is considering high-capacity magazines that can hold 50 or 100 rounds of 5.56mm ammo, but Marines that deploy with this first batch of IARs will carry only 30-round magazines.
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
Here’s a clip of the IAR at the testing ground (the IAR demonstration starts around the 4 minute mark on the video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVHLvtArC_g
I dunno enough about infantry tactics to say whether it will be an effective replacement for the SAW or not. It kind of reminds me (conceptually) of a throwback to the Browning Automatic Rifle, though admittedly a lot lighter and more compact.
- the SAW is jam prone
- the SAW is unweildy when clearing structures (think Fallujah)
- the SAW makes the gunner visually standout from the squad.
I see nothing wrong with SAW. Its a good rifle.
If they are going back to a Mag fed SAW, why not just give the old M1918’s a go. At least you have a solid .30 cal round with them.
The Shrike looks like it has a number of advantages over the competition. Also, it looks like a lot of fun on a Saturday morning. ;-)
With today’s technolgy, why can’t we make the BAR a lighter weapon? The firing system is rock solid but it is magazine fed. The BAR was designed to be the Squad Automatic Weapon and served us well. It is time we brought back the 30.06 round and stop fooling around with plinking rounds. I want a bullet that I can kill with at 500 yards. I don’t want the enemy up close and personal.
Semper fi
Regards,
Right. They can keep up a sustained rate of fire. How is this rifle any different from another M16?
They have reinvented the wheel. If I want a sustained fire machinegun, I want something in .30 cal flavor, beltfed, and allows me to maintain a field of fire in which nothing lives without my permission.
Or just set me behind Ma Deuce and keep the ammo coming!
But what's wanted is a magazine-fed 5,56 SAW, one whose belts are not subject to fouling from sand, nor in those locales where vegetation is more prevalent, where belts constantly foul and snag on the wait-a-minute vines.
It'll be interesting to see if the magazine for a Marine 5.56 SAW like the H&K guns can be adapted to the M16A3/M4 as well. If so, then we'd be in a partity situatuion with the Russians, whose RPK magazines work just dandy in AKs and AKM, and whose RPK74 magazines work in the standard AK74 and AK74SUs. They've only been ahead of us on this for, oh, 45, 50 years or so. Not that the fixed-barrel RPK doesn't suffer some flaws of its own. But a quick-change barrel setup could change that.
Myself, I kind of like these:
I don't get it.
Hey wait! You left out the Israeli Negev, the Spanish Ameli, and that cute little lead-spreader from Singapore, as well as the old Stoner 63/Mk23.... 
Why not a 7.62x39 SAW in regions where there is plenty of supplemental ammo locally? It may not always be ideal, but if your run out 5.56, you’re SOL. Whereas if you capture enemy combatants and/or a cache, you’ve just re-supplied in the field.
I got the Unimat 100...
Anyway, no matter what the Corps winds up fielding, someone is going to have to hump all the ammo.....
It may be a sly way of replacing the M-16 and M-4. The M27 can fire full automatic as opposed to programmed bursts. It would become the standard assault rifle. There may be a replacement for the SAW on the horizon. Hopefully.
MODERN FIREARMS:
[After extensive trials in 2009 USMC finally selected the HK IAR rifle, which, in fact, is no more that heavy-barreled version of their HK 416 automatic carbine (assault rifle), and it hardly looks like adequate replacement for a dedicated squad automatic weapon with belt feed and quick-change barrel. By all accounts, it looks like USMC played the whole IAR trick to get the replacement for their M4 carbines without entering the political hassle and budgetary debates. In May 2010 the USMC representative officially anounced the adoption of the Heckler-Koch IAR as “M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle”. It is not clear when HK will begin delivery of the M27 rifles, and how much rifles will be delivered to USMC. . .]
If that’s the case they are playing politics with the lives of Marines.
This thing is supposed to replace a belt fed weapon and they put the magazine well on the bottom?
It certainly looks compact!
Anyway, no matter what the Corps winds up fielding, someone is going to have to hump all the ammo.....
I got the ammo for the SAW. You hump the baseplate and ammo for the 120....
Yeah, like on the SAW it's replacing in part because the top-fed magazine feature is problematical.
Why would anyone field an AR or SAW with a bottom-mounted magazine...?
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