Gabe Bailey, Marketing Director, has admitted that USSOCOM is not buying the SCAR Mk.16 rifle …

You are correct and I am not hiding any facts. And, as the main customer has stated, they do not plan to buy the MK 16…in my humble opinion, this has nothing to do with performance but rather smartly-weighed budget decisions.

Performance fact: As I previously noted, the MK 16 (and MK17, MK 13) met all requirements. Those requirements ARE well above and beyond the weapon(s) it is intended to replace. Neither the MK 16 weapon nor the program were ever cancelled as we all have come to realize through factual evidence (MS C & FRP).

Arguments raged across the internet after Christian Lowe, managing editor of Military.com, broke the story. Christian personally took a lot of flack. He recently wrote …

We are not in the business of reporting rumors on a story as important (and emotional) as this. I searched for the facts, got them from the government source and reported them to Kit Up! readers (and I’ll also reiterate, I did seek comment from FNH-USA and got a detailed statement from them, but it was OFF THE RECORD so I could not use it).

It did not help that FN Herstal (Belgium) claimed that they “hereby refutes the allegations recently found on the web that USSOCOM abandoned the 5.56 version of the SCAR”. I know for a fact that some or all of FNH-USA employees were not aware of the FN Herstal press release and obviously FN Herstal was not aware that the SCAR had in fact been dropped. I think they personally owe Christian an apology.

I am pleased this debate has finally been resolved and we can all get back to arguing which is better, the Glock or the M1911.

[ Many thanks to Rijoenpial for the link. ]