Dan Lamothe at Marine Times reports that Marine command are keeping an eye on the Armys carbine competition …

Marine officials still plan the service’s infantry weapons around the 5.56mm M16A4 service rifle, but “that doesn’t mean we can’t be getting smart” about other options, said Lt. Col. Mark Brinkman, head of the infantry weapons program at Quantico, Va.-based Marine Corps Systems Command.

“The thought process for us is very similar to what’s going on in the Army,” he said Feb. 1 at the Soldier Technology U.S. conference in Arlington, Va.

More here.

Marine with M16A4

Last year the now retired Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Conway, stated that the Marine Corps would always be using a rifle and would not switch to a carbine. I wrote that this attitude was incredibly shortsighted. It sounds like the new Commandant, Gen. James F. Amos, has a healthier attitude towards firearm innovation.