As envisioned, the teams will work like American politicians who campaign door to door and learn what voters care about. A team is to arrive in a village, get permission from the male elder to speak with the women, settle into a compound, hand out school supplies and medicine, drink tea, make conversation and, ideally, get information about the village, local grievances and the Taliban.

...

On patrols, the women will carry M-4 rifles, which are shorter and more maneuverable than the military’s standard M-16s, but once inside an Afghan compound, and with Marine guards posted outside, they have been instructed, assuming they feel safe, to remove their rifles and take off their intimidating “battle rattle” of helmets and body armor.

In my opinion the article implies that these woman are being treated less-equal than the male Marines when behind the wire, but isn't it standard operating procedure to remove armor and helmet?

UPDATE: As some commenters realized, I misinterpreted "Afghan compound" to mean inside their base of operations, not inside a native compound.

[ Many thanks to Mik for emailing me the link. ]

The procurement is notable because the rounds are not loaded with classic 230 gr hardball bullets, but the lighter and faster 185 grain FMJ-SWC bullets.

[ Many thanks to Matt for emailing me the info. ]

UPDATE: Daniel pointed out that the purchase was for the USMC Competition-In-Arms Program and that the solicitation appears to have been canceled.

[ Many thanks to jdun1911 for emailing me the link. ]

The intent of this sources sought request is to identify potential qualified 8(a) small businesses that can provide the attached weapons parts list for the M-45, MEUSOC Pistol.

This confirms earlier evidence that the pistol will henceforth be known as the M45.

A Marine fires what was formally called the "MEU(SOC) pistol"

Thanks to Mark for spotting the solicitation request.

Dan Lamothe, who broke the news, updated his The Marine Times article and added that it now appears that the H&K IAR has not officially won but is the frontrunner ...

With several months of testing ahead, the decision isn’t considered final, but it makes the H&K model the clear front-runner in the competition.

...

The Corps will now put H&K IAR through five months of testing beginning in January and taking place in locations ranging from Panama to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center and Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in California, Eby said. The Corps has ordered 24 H&K IARs for testing, said Capt. Geraldine Care

Rob Curtis who blogs at GearScout (also part of the Military Times) wrote that the DoD appear to done a downselect, rather than awarding H&K an outright win ...

From what we understand, this is actually a downselect to just one system as opposed to a contract win

Dan send me an email regarding my previous comments on the supposed weight of the H&K IAR, which is almost identical to the standard HK416 carbine. He sent me the spec document which H&K provided him with. It does indeed list the weight as just 7.9 lbs!

Daniel E. Watters wrote that he suspects that the Marine command may have been framing the IAR as a partial M249 replacement but in reality they may have just wanted a piston operated full-auto carbine. By procuring what is sold as a new class of weapon they could sidestep the inter-service politics and bureaucracy ...

The weird thing is that the HK416 IAR is roughly the same weight as the M16A4, if not lighter when the latter is fitted with the M5 ARS. I'm certain that someone in Congress will ultimately ask what the HK416 can do that their issue M16A4 retrofitted with full-auto trigger groups can't.

Like others have mentioned, I can't help but wonder if the USMC didn't game the IAR requirements so that a basic carbine could win instead of a HBAR. The idea would be to gradually increase the number of IAR issued so that they could later justify standardizing on it to replace not just the infantry squad's M249, but their M16A4 and M4 as well. By framing it as a service-specific supplement to their M249, they skirted the need to argue with the other service branches over a set of joint requirements.

As for winning the contract, everyone needs to remember that Colt, FN, and HK were already awarded Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contracts for their IAR last year. An IDIQ contract guarantees the awardee that they will have a specific minimum of items ordered, with the possibility of additional orders up to a specific maximum. There is no guarantee that more than the stated minimum will ever be ordered. I've long suspected that contracting officers have been purposefully making multiple awards of IDIQ contracts prior to a final downselect in order to head off potential award protests by the disgruntled losers. It is my understanding that by accepting their IDIQ award, the contractor only has grounds to protest if the guaranteed minimum has not ordered before the end of the contract. They cannot protest that they did not receive additional orders in excess of the guaranteed minimum.

Make of all this information as you will. All I know is that DoD procurement was never designed to be understood by a mere mortal such as myself!

The Marine Corps has selected the infantry automatic rifle made by Heckler & Koch as the weapon that will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in infantry fire teams, a senior service official told Marine Corps Times on Wednesday.

The H&K IAR “was truly the best in the class on multiple levels and will finally allow the billet of automatic rifleman to be performed as intended without the disruption of the squad integrity that the M249 created,” Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeffrey Eby, the Corps’ senior gunner, said in an e-mail.

Despite what is said in the above quotation, I do not think that the SAW is being replaced outright. The Marine Times has at times reported that the SAW would be replaced with the IAR, and at other times reported that it would augment the IAR, not replace it ...

The plan is to buy 4,100 IARs and reduce the number of SAWs in the Corps from 10,000 to 8,000, Cantwell said.

“We are still going to maintain SAWs in the company,” he said. “Only 2,000 SAWs will be replaced. The reminder will be kept as an organizational weapon for when commanders need them.”

The H&K entry was a modified version of their HK416 piston-operated AR-15 rifle. Unlike the Colt and FN entries, it is said to fire only from a closed bolt. Given the lack of an open-bolt fire mode I had presumed it was the least likely choice for an automatic rifle.

Presumably it is fitted with a heavy barrel, like H&K's previous, and commercially unsuccessful, attempt at the automatic rifle: the MG36. The Marine Corps has been reporting the weight of the 16.5" barreled H&K IAR as being 7.9 lbs. This is not possible as a standard 16.5" barreled Hk416 weights in at 7.84 lbs. I also think that the photo of the H&K IAR shown by the Military Times is that of a standard HK416.

HK416 standard rifle (not IAR)

I have contacted H&K to see if they are willing to publicly acknowledge if they have won. If they do, I will endeavor to get the specs of the new weapon.

UPDATE: The Marines Times has an updated article here.

Many thanks to Mark and Matt for sending me the news.

James Conway had questioned how the IAR will fit into fire teams, but said that his concern was “answered in short order.” Smith declined to elaborate, and Maj. David Nevers, a spokesman for Conway, said the commandant was unavailable for comment.

At the Modern Day Marine exposition held at Quantico in October, FN Herstal displayed a high-capacity magazine for its IAR variant that can hold 100 to 150 rounds. Another con­tractor, Armatac Industries, has approached the Corps about a 150-round magazine it makes and says is compatible with each of the finalists’ weapons.

Early in the evaluation process for the IAR, the Corps’ requirement called for the weapon to use 100-round magazines. That was eventually elimi­nated in favor of using the same 30-round maga­zines, as Marine officials sought to cut weight from the SAW’s replacement.

Translation: Ultra-high capacity magazines have poor reliability and so we are pretending that they are in fact too heavy for our Marines to carry.

I was not aware that the requirement had been dropped. Not having a ultra-high capacity magazine would seem to significantly decrease the utility of the rifle, insofar as it being a replacement for the SAW.

150 round AR CL-MAG

Many thanks to Solomon for the link.

The Marine Corps plans to announce next month a heavily anticipated plan for the infantry automatic rifle, which is expected to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in Marine fire teams.

“We’re close to having a decision,” said Maj. John Smith, the weapon’s project officer at Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va. “I’m on schedule to have a decision on the program to move forward. Maybe within three weeks or so, there will be a lot more information.”

Testing is complete, Smith told Marine Corps Times on Wednesday, and plans are underway to make sure logistics, training and maintenance of the weapon are handled.

The article is not entirely accurate. The Corps will not be replacing the SAW with the IAR, but rather adding the IAR to their weapons mix.

I have covered the Infantry Automatic Rifle many times on the blog.

Many thanks to Walt for telling me about the article.

The platoon-sized unit of U.S. soldiers and about two dozen Afghan troops was shooting back with such intensity the barrels on their weapons turned white hot. The high rate of fire appears to have put a number of weapons out of commission, even though the guns are tested and built to operate in extreme conditions.

...

"My weapon was overheating,” McKaig said, according to Cubbison’s report. "I had shot about 12 magazines by this point already and it had only been about a half hour or so into the fight. I couldn’t charge my weapon and put another round in because it was too hot, so I got mad and threw my weapon down."

Snowflakes In Hell, via Michael Bane's blog, correctly points out that assault rifles are not machine guns:

No assault rifle is going to stand up to sustained automatic fire. They aren’t machine guns, and even a machine gun needs to have its barrel changed out if it’s been firing a lot.

The M4 has a very short 14.5" barrel and a relatively lightweight barrel profile. This allows the barrel to heat up much faster than a longer and heavier rifle or machine gun barrel. When the barrel of a closed-bolt gun gets very hot, cook-offs,when a round is ignited from the heat in the chamber, become a significant problem ... not to mention the fact that a soldier cannot fire a gun that is to hot to hold!

The Marines have been criticized by many for their plans to introduce an Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR) into the mix of weapons issued to their troops. The IAR is not intended to replace the SAW but would be deployed alongside it, giving some riflemen a light weight weapon that can sustain automatic fire.

FN IAR. Switches from closed-bolt to open-bolt when automatically when barrel temperature increases.

The Army would do well to look into the concept.

At the end of last year the Marines announced they were awarding contracts for the development of IAR prototypes to Colt, H&K and FN. Since then I have heard nothing about the IAR.

There are discussions about the M4 failure at Wanat over at Snowflakes In Hell, via Michael Bane's blog and SaysUncle.

Many thanks to Jerry, Caedis, Lee and Lance for emailing me links about this story.

Knight's Armament are now selling the last 50 of the Mk11 Mod 1 rifles that will ever be produced to civilians.

The suggested retail price ... $8508! Most of these 50 rifles are already spoken for with only a few left for sale. It is more than I would spend on a rifle of this class, but I suppose it is also a piece of military history.

Big thanks to Jesse for sending me the info.

A Marine fired the MEU(SOC)

Two documents ¹, recently posted on Navy.mil, provide information about the procurement of slide assemblies for the M45. Unlike previous documents these do not refer to the MEU(SOC) designation and refer only to the "M45 Close Quarters Combat Pistol".

Note the reliability requirements.

Many thanks to Daniel for the information.

Two years ago when I was in Iraq, I noticed there were essentially two different primary infantry weapons (the M16 automatic rifle and the also-automatic M4 carbine) carried by America’s two primary ground forces — the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army.

Marines for the most part were carrying the M16. The Army on the other hand was primarily carrying the M4: a shorter, lighter version of the M16 with a collapsible-stock.

Hat Tip: Say Uncle

I found the following photos of a Martini-Henry .303 1870 rifle which has been converted into a pistol. It was captured by Marines in Afghanistan.

The pistol has an original Martini-Henry barrel which was cut down to 2.5″ and sights carved out of it. Other than the addition of the pistol grip and sling swivels, the pistol is made entirely from original parts.

These pistols, converted from rifles in the Khyber Pass, are said to be common in that part of the world. It is designed to for one purpose: to kill an enemy in order to take his weapons … that is of course if the death-trap of a gun does not kill the operator first!

More information about this pistol is at gunboards.com.

And let’s not get carried away with the sea state, says DT contributor Joe Buff. A multi-thousand ton destroyer is a pretty stable platform in any but the most tumultuous sea states and makes dialing in a shot on an admittedly tossing life raft more doable — a smart platform for the Team to operate from.

Well sure a big ship is a more stable platform, but that does not make it any less of a feat of marksmanship. Missing could have meant the difference between the American captain surviving and being executed by the frightened pirates.

We also have some information — unconfirmed, though we’re working on it — about how the shots were taken and what was used. Our firearms expert Eric Poole who writes for Tactical-Life posits that the snipers were using the MK-11 .308 sniper system manufactured by Knights Armament Co. This weapon is awesome, by the way (I’ve shot it a few times myself) and, if this is indeed what the shooters used, would mark a major, high-profile departure from legacy thinking about sniping which holds bolt-action rifles as the Gold Standard or marksmanship.

I also said that I though the Mk 11 was the likely weapons system.

Bolt actions and semi-auto’s can both be made accurate enough. Bolt actions can be made more accurate cheaper, but semi-autos give a much better rate of fire. The Army is sticking with the M24 Sniper Weapons System, based on the Remington 700 bolt action, for now because of cost.

Poole figures the DevGru frogmen removed the “overpowered” standard-issue Leupold scopes and opted for the Aimpoint CCO augmented by the PVS-14 night vision monocular. Though the SEAL version of the MK-11 Mod 0 is issued with suppressors, it’s unclear whether the operators used them, but I’d bet a million bucks they did.

Good point about scopes. The range was relatively close, so I don’t think the sound suppression of a suppressor would make a huge difference to the situation, but the decrease in recoil would be advantageous when making followup shots at a moving target. I think it is safe to assume these guys know now their weapons performs when suppressed (unlike video games, in real life suppressors make no change to the external ballistics of the projectile, but it does change the weight balance of the firearm)

One other question (among many) remains open…were there three shots or four? Poole reasons, and Allen and I agree, that someone had to shoot through the lifeboat window first, then fire the kill shots. My limited knowledge of ballistics leads me to believe the snipers could not rely on the effectiveness of the one window shot to actually strike the target where it was aimed based in the potential deflection of hitting that probably plastic (glass) window.

There are a lot of things we do not know.

Thanks to Paul for the link.

U.S. Navy snipers fatally shot three pirates holding an American cargo-ship captain hostage after seeing that one of the pirates “had an AK-47 leveled at the captain’s back,” a military official said Sunday.

…

The three pirates, who were armed with AK-47 rifles, were killed by shooters who were aboard the Bainbridge, Gortney said.

The on-scene commander gave the shooters approval to open fire after seeing that “one of the pirates had an AK-47 leveled at the captain’s back,” Gortney said.

That is some incredible shooting!

Earlier this year a team of Marine Scout Snipers were deployed to the region for counter piracy work. They are armed with the SR-25 (Mk 11) 7.62×51mm semi-automatic, an AR-10 style rifle. They may well have been the men that were deployed to take out the pirates.

A scout sniper fires an MK-11 rifle from a HH-60H Sea Hawk helicopter

Hat Tip: Snow Flakes in Hell

Horus Vision Leupold spotting scope

I was amazed that the M49, the standard military spotting scope, was designed during WWII!

Picture of M49 from War Department manual TM 9-1556 published in 1944.

In my personal opinion, optics are one of the two major improvements in firearm technology since WWII (the other being ammunition component improvements). While I am sure the current M49’s exceed the mil specs from the 1940s it is only 20x in power and has no reticle.

UPDATE: According to Allen, a Marine vet and analyst at The Columbia Group, The Marines will be using a standard Gen II Mil-Dot reticle, not the Horus reticle described below.

The Horus Vision Leupold, as the name suggests, is made with Leupold optics, and offers 12.7-38.1x zoom. Its main feature is the reticles. Unlike standard mil-dot these show a 2d-grid which allows for precise calculations of holdover and, in the case of a spotter for a sniper, calculating speed of moving objects.

Horus H36 reticle.

This promotion video shows how it works. The video is showing the Horus line of rifle scopes, not the spotting scope, but the idea is the same.

Defense Industry Daily has more info and details of the contact awarded to Horus.

The nine-member sniper team brings multiple capabilities to CTF 151, including its ability to operate from an aerial platform with a variety of different weapons systems. The scout snipers use a Mk-11, which is the 762 sniper rifle; a 50-caliber M107 special application scoped rifle (SASR); and several different sets of optics to aid them in carrying out their mission.

“We have the ability to stand off of a target, visually see what is on the target and report that information to the VBSS teams so they understand — before they’re boarding — the number of personnel, if there are any weapons on board, if there are any type of foulings on the deck, if their hook point is obtainable, and, basically, give them a warm and fuzzy feeling that they’re not out alone out here, that they have snipers watching over them 100 percent of the time,” explained Benkie.

Emphases mine. That must be a good feeling

More here.

Since there has been a rash of weapons related incidents recently, the Provost Marshals Office has made it a priortity to emphasize safety among the Marines, Sailors and civilians aboard the Tri-Command area.

According to Randy Walz, the services officer with PMO, numerous weapons to include a Russian AK-47, rifles, shotguns, assorted ammunition and large knives were confiscated during the past weekend.

Photos of the confiscated guns at GunPundit.

FN IAR. Click to expand.

One very interesting features is that it switches automatically from closed bolt to open bolt depending on the chamber temperature. From FNH-USA:

Today FN offers the new Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR), a unique, highly-adaptable, modular selective fire weapon system that fills the roles of both individual battle rifle and squad automatic weapon in one light, compact package. The magazine-fed FN IAR is capable of firing from a closed bolt in both semi-automatic and fully-automatic modes, yet automatically transitions into open-bolt operation in semi-automatic or fully-automatic before reaching cook-off temperature for a chambered cartridge.

I do not think the temperature switch would be electronic. Most likely there is a piece of metal that expands when heated and causes a switch from closed to open bolt.

Again, a bit thanks to Daniel Watters for pointing this out to me.

Colt was awarded two contracts worth up to $14 million apiece: M67854-09-D-1035 and M67854-09-D-1036.
FN was awarded one contract worth up to $27.9 million: M67854-09-D-1037.
HK was awarded one contract worth up to $23.6 million: M67854-09-D-1038.

I have covered on of the Colt IARs and the FN IAR. The HK IAR is apparently a heavy barreled HK416 with bipod and standard closed bolt operation.

The contracts represent the maximum potential amount the manufacture will receive if all 6500 IAR rifles are ordered from them.

According to HK_PDX each company will now supply 10 sample rifles for the final trial.

Once again it looks like the small guys have missed out.

A big thanks to Daniel E. Watters for the research he did for this post. He knows all the ins and outs of military contracts, something I am ignorant of.
Full contact information

FN Herstal, S.A., Herstal, Belgium, is being awarded a five year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with possible delivery orders up to $27,900,000 for the production, delivery, and associated support of the Marine Corps’ Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR). The IAR will be a light weight, magazine fed, 5.56 mm weapon which will enhance the automatic rifleman’s maneuverability and displacement speed while providing the ability to suppress or destroy not only area targets, but point targets as well. The IAR is planned to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW) currently employed by automatic riflemen within Infantry and Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) Battalions. Although four contracts will be made initially, delivery orders will be awarded for samples. First Article, spare/repair parts, and various support services; and, eventually one of the four contractors may be awarded delivery orders for up to 6,500 IARs. FN Herstal’s production facility is in Herstal, Belgium. Delivery of contract line items will be as stated on applicable delivery orders. Contractfunds will be obligated in multiple delivery orders. This contract was competitively procured. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (M67854-09-D-1037).

Heckler and Koch Defense, Inc., Ashburn, Va., is being awarded a five year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with possible delivery orders up to $23,600,000 for the production, delivery, and associated support of the Marine Corps’ Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR). The IAR will be a light weight, magazine fed, 5.56 mm weapon which will enhance the automatic rifleman’s maneuverability and displacement speed while providing the ability to suppress or destroy not only area targets, but point targets as well. The IAR is planned to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW) currently employed by automatic riflemen within Infantry and Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) Battalions. Although four contracts will be made initially, delivery orders will be awarded for samples. First Article, spare/repair parts, and various support services; and, eventually one of the four contractors may be awarded delivery orders for up to 6,500 IARs. Work will be performed in Oberndorf, Germany. Delivery of contract line items will be as stated on applicable delivery orders. Contractfunds will be obligated in multiple delivery orders. This contract was competitively procured. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (M67854-09-D-1038).

Colt Defense, Inc., West Hartford, Conn., is being awarded a five year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with possible delivery orders up to $14,000,000 for the production, delivery, and associated support of the Marine Corps’ Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR). The IAR will be a light weight, magazine fed, 5.56 mm weapon which will enhance the automatic rifleman’s maneuverability and displacement speed while providing the ability to suppress or destroy not only area targets, but point targets as well. The IAR is planned to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW) currently employed by automatic riflemen within Infantry and Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) Battalions. Although four contracts will be made initially, delivery orders will be awarded for samples, First Article, spare/repair parts, and various support services; and, eventually one of the four contractors may be awarded delivery orders for up to 6,500 IARs. Colt’s production facility is in West Hartford, Conn. Work will be performed in West Hartford, Conn. Delivery of contract line items will be as stated on applicable delivery orders. Contractfunds will be obligated in multiple delivery orders. This contract was competitively procured. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (RFP M67854-08-R-1000, proposal 6940, contract number M67854-09-D-1035).

Colt Defense, Inc., West Hartford, Conn., is being awarded a five year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with possible delivery orders up to $14,000,000 for the production, delivery, and associated support of the Marine Corps’ Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR). The IAR will be a light weight, magazine fed, 5.56 mm weapon which will enhance the automatic rifleman’s maneuverability and displacement speed while providing the ability to suppress or destroy not only area targets, but point targets as well. The IAR is planned to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW) currently employed by automatic riflemen within Infantry and Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) Battalions. Although four contracts will be made initially, delivery orders will be awarded for samples, First Article, spare/repair parts, and various support services; and, eventually one of the four contractors may be awarded delivery orders for up to 6,500 IARs. Colt’s production facility is in West Hartford, Conn. Work will be performed in West Hartford, Conn. Delivery of contract line items will be as stated on applicable delivery orders. Contractfunds will be obligated in multiple delivery orders. This contract was competitively procured. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., is the contracting activity (RFP M67854-08-R-1000, proposal 6940H, and contract number M67854-09-D-1036).

My take on it: They reckoned punt guns are pretty cool for duck hunting but rifle grenades (fired with a blank round) are even better!

(Just joking)

At the Pakistan IDEAS-2008 expo an M16/M203 was on display with a MWG 90 Rounder High Capacity Magazine, sitting directly above a Colt IAR poster (Photo by skybolt @ Defence.pk).

The tan colored weapon on the poster is the Colt IAR. Click to expand.

I think it would be safe to assume that Colt is going with the MWG 90.

MWG 90 Rounder High Capacity Magazine

If you look closely at the first image it appears that the MWG 90 magazine is attached to the M16 upper receiver. Something is attached to the receiver which extends towards the magazine. Anyone know what this is? It does not appear visible on MWG promotional photos, such as this one:

Colt may have customized the MWG 90 to increase reliability/durability.

Nammo Talley Defense, Inc. in Mesa, AZ received a $15.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for 7,750 LAW M72A7 portable rockets from Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA, in order to replenish stockpiles.

The short (unextended length of 0.67 m) low cost and low weight (5.5 lbs) 66mm one-shot rocket system is useful in urban environments against buildings and lightly armored vehicles, such as those found in Iraq/Afghanistan.

M72 LAW

Many of the improvements Colt have developed have been applied to all these guns, I won’t list them all, click the links to read the full details.

Colt Sub-Compact Weapon (SCW)

A 5.56mm 10.3″ barreled sub-carbine/PDW featuring the new Colt side-folding stock. It is able to use an upgraded gas impingement system or the Colt Piston System (CPS)

Side Folding Stock. Photo by SMGLee.

Colt ACC-M (Advanced Colt Carbine-Monolithic)

This is basically an upgraded M4. It features many small improvements over the M4A1 and Colt’s new monolithic rail system. If it was adopted it I think it would probably be named the M4A2.

Colt Advanced Piston Carbine (APC)

David calls this the HK416 killer. It utilizes the Colt Articulating-Link Piston (ALP) system.

Colt Advanced Hybrid Carbine (AHC)

This carbine features a hybrid gas impingement and gas piston system. I am very interested to see how that works.

Colt Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR)

I covered this a few weeks ago on the blog. It is a light machine gun and Colt’s entry into the Marine Infantry Automatic Rifle competition.

Colt IAR. Photo by SMGLee

Photos by SMGLee. Click to expand:

Quick Change Barrel

I like the design of the ambidextrous fire selector.

Compared to the Mk4 the Mk5 takes unmodified STANAG (M16) magazine, has quad rails and a bipod/foregrip rather than a separate bipod and foregrip.

I am not sure if the Ultimax 100 Mk4 100 round drum magazine will be made compatible with the Mk5. The Mk4 took modified STANAG magazines.

Ultimax 100 Mk 4


Ultimax 100 Mk 5

UPDATE: Defense Review has more info.

That’s why the Army, which also uses the M249, has ruled out a soldier version of the Marine IAR.

“We are not considering adopting an auto rifle for the infantry squad,” said Col. Robert Radcliffe, director of the Infantry Center’s Directorate of Combat Developments at Fort Benning, Ga.

…

The plan is to buy 4,100 IARs and reduce the number of SAWs in the Corps from 10,000 to 8,000, Cantwell said.

“We are still going to maintain SAWs in the company,” he said. “Only 2,000 SAWs will be replaced. The reminder will be kept as an organizational weapon for when commanders need them.”

The CL-MAG™ offers for the first time a reliable and efficient 150 rd magazine for the .223/5.56mm rifle. Designed to fit NATO standard (STANAG-4179) rifles, the CL-MAG™ quickly converts a rifleman with a standard M4 into automatic support personnel. The 150 rd magazines have been routinely emptied through the standard AR-15 setup without weapon failure. (Ambient temperature starts). The flexibility of such force multiplication makes the CL-MAG™ the most dominant accessory for the AR/M4/M16 family of weapons.

I must say I don’t get it. If the magazine breaks you are stuffed unless you are carrying other magazines. For example you may have to carry a 150 round CL-MAG, as well as 3×30 round magazines. If the CL mag jams after 50 rounds you are now carrying 100 rounds less than you were a minute ago.
On the other hand the Singaporean 5.56 LMG, the STK Ultimax 100, the same people who make the CPW, takes STANAG magazines and currently uses a modified 100 round C-Mag. This would give it 50% more capacity and increase rate of fire. The added weight may even be beneficial (when being fired, not carried).

Photo from Wikipedia.

The Ultimax 100 is being marketed to the Marines. It is has very low recoil, takes standard M16 magazines and can be operated by one person.

The weapon in action:

Trying to become predators instead of prey, Marines headed to Iraq will go through training built on advice from big-game hunters, soldiers of fortune and troops who grew up around firearms in the woods or the inner city.

More here.

Hat Tip: Danger Room

FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC received a $33.7 million firm-fixed-price, contract for M16A3 and M16A4 Rifles to support the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.

….

Colt Defense in Hartford, CT received a $15.9 million firm-fixed-price contract for M16A3 and M16A4 Rifles to support the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.

I know FN and Colt are happy

More at DID

The current M40 barreled for the .308 round is dependable and can reach out and touch someone at about 1,000 meters. But the TRG-42 is designed for the sniper who wants a little more range – like 2,300 meters, says Beretta firearms instructor, Corey Gumbert – without having to carry the heavy .50 Barrett rifle.

Gumbert said his company has handed over a few of the .338 Lapua-chambered TRG-42s to the Marine Corps and so far they like them.

More here