M4 criticism continues

May 20, 2008 by Dagpotter
Filed under: Colt, Contract Awards, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, production program 

It is not news that the Colt M4 carbine has received a lot of criticism for its performance in Iraq and Afghanistan. This article summarizes a great deal of it. It turns out that the M4, originally a shortened M16 for use by armor and air crew, does not do well in dusty environments. The Special Forces have moved to an HK product, called the SCAR. Many in Congress and the Army have lobbied for a the regular Army and USMC to buy the SCAR as well. The Army did work on a new rifle, the XM-8, that was canceled recently due to problems with the program. Because this is a key piece of equipment for the military expect to see more about this and further efforts to broaden the small arms inventory.

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One Response to “M4 criticism continues”

  1. FN reiterates desire for M4 contract | Defense Procurement News on June 22nd, 2008 5:41 am

    [...] Currently Colt makes all of the M4 carbines and has since the Nineties. There have been many complaints about its performance and even if FN won the contract many of the design issues could not be fixed [...]

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