Editorial: Improved rifle a must

[unhappycamper]

Editorial: Improved rifle a must

Everybody knows the M4 carbine isn’t the most reliable weapon available. The Army’s own tests prove it.

In recent “extreme dust tests” simulating conditions even worse than one might find in today’s war zones, the M4 came in dead last behind three other carbines, jamming nearly four times more often than the nearest competitor.

Officials have tried to explain away the problems, saying the weapon fires effectively if heavily lubricated, and that in these tests it still fired correctly 98.5 percent of the time. But a 1.5 percent chance of failure when soldiers need a weapon most is not good enough — especially when there are affordable, better options available.

The special operations community has already adopted two of the three carbines that outperformed the M4 in the dust test. They believe the new weapons — FNH USA’s SCAR and Heckler & Koch’s 416 — are better.

But Army leaders refuse to follow suit. Instead, they intend to spend $375 million between now and 2009 on new M4s. Only after that does the Army plan to consider holding a performance-based competition for a new carbine.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_editorial_rifle_080114/



uhc comment: If Rummy were still in charge, he would tell you "You go to war with the weapons you have, not the weapons you want."