Army: Gun Makers Didn't Meet Reliability Standard

[FrankT]

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...ility-standard.html?comp=7000023435630&rank=8

Army weapons officials are defending their decision to stop the service’s improved carbine competition early, saying that none of the eight participating gun makers performed well enough to replace the M4 Carbine.

“I want to make it very clear none of the vendors met the minimum requirements which allowed them to pass into” the final phase of the competition, Brig. Gen. Paul Ostrowsk, the head of Program Executive Office Soldier, said during a June 14 briefing with reporters.

Program officials began making plans several weeks to find other uses for what amounts to more than $300 million the service has budgeted for new carbines through 2018, Military.com reported May 2.

But Army officials maintain that the Army’s reliability requirement for the Individual Carbine effort proved unreachable for Adcor Defense Inc., Beretta, Colt Defense LLC, FNH-USA, Heckler & Koch, Lewis Machine & Tool, Remington Defense and Troy Defense. cont.

 

[wildrider666]

They can put out requirements that are nothing more then "I want" and are not achievable with current technology. If I say I will only buy a truck with 500HP, 3700 FPT and 150 MPG: that isn't happening either. They should run a new issue M4 with the test guns to see how they compare under the same standards. Per Washington, wars are winding down. They will not pursue it further and Troops will have worn out crap for decades. I wonder where the hell the money will go too.

 

[Gravity3694]

The Army stacked the deck in order to force the program to be canceled. They never wanted nor ever really needed a new rifle. Congress was forcing the Army to continue the program so some Congressmen would earn their district/state a nice contract. We're broke, and we have no war left. There's no reason to continue this program.

IIRC the M4 only made it to 1700 rounds before stoppage. Its also alleged that M855A1 is the main culprit in the reliability factor.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...ncels-improved-carbine-competition-intervene/

 

[Seanpcola]

They can put out requirements that are nothing more then "I want" and are not achievable with current technology. If I say I will only buy a truck with 500HP, 3700 FPT and 150 MPG: that isn't happening either. They should run a new issue M4 with the test guns to see how they compare under the same standards. Per Washington, wars are winding down. They will not pursue it further and Troops will have worn out crap for decades. I wonder where the hell the money will go too.

Obamacare and vacations.

 

[SAWMAN]

Keep the weapon,however change a few of the charastics and change the ammo/allow use of different ammo. Lots of talk,talk,talk....however.....no one wants to lug a 7.62X51 around all day,fire between a couple of hundred and a couple thousand rds of ammo within a 24hr period, or have to hump around that ammo. I remember one time I was required to carry a shotgun. That and 200rds of ammo. That quickly got real "old".

The 5.56 is good enough for the "normal" ranges that our infantry will engage the enemy at, if backed up by the snipers and/or the 50BMG shooters. With a little tweaking it could be somewhat mo-bedda.

Maybe a piston system OR ARGO like my Benelli could be seriously looked at. --- SAWMAN

 

[wildrider666]

I understand the program cancellation and it is different from outright procurement. There will still be a need to replace worn out systems from weapons to aircraft.
The sandbox is a cruel bitch. We've come a long way since our stocks warped and molded in the bush but I think the 24/7 sandblaster is worse.