November 23, 2003

Bye-bye M16?

Pvt. Kaleb Matlack and Pvt. Jorge Cabrera, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, provide security for their ground assault convoy as it moves forward to the fight in Iraq. The 502nd Infantry Regiment makes up 2nd Brigade for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). U.S. Army photo.

So, the Army isn't happy with the M16, or even the M4 (which I do like - but will admit have NOT used it in combat, which is a horse of a different color from all other uses). Slobodan Leskic of the AP reports:


U.S. officers in Iraq say the M-16A2 — the latest incarnation of the 5.56 mm firearm — is quietly being phased out of front-line service because it has proven too bulky for use inside the Humvees and armored vehicles that have emerged as the principal mode of conducting patrols since the end of major fighting on May 1.

The M-16, at nearly 40 inches, is widely considered too long to aim quickly within the confines of a vehicle during a firefights [sic], when reaction time is a matter of life and death.

The whole article is here.

I'll skip my usual rant about many of the recent reports of failures with the M-16 that revolve around the leaders of troops who didn't take the 'soldier' part of their job seriously until they got into the combat zone, as opposed to training them right to begin with. You FIGHT as you TRAIN. And we even make it comic book simple! However, the ugly reality remains, the AK series of rifles don't require the same level of TLC as the M16 series does, and we might as well take this opportunity to move ahead!

Hopefully, we'll do better this time - since the government is pretty much out of weapons design and production, with the exception of cannon barrels at Watervliet - and that too, may go away, some of the institutional "Not Invented Here" pressures are gone.

I'll let the boys at Strategy Page go over some of the contenders for the new OICW, Objective Individual Combat Weapon, and the follies and foibles that still exist as we try to get from here to there. The usual suspects - the chimera of the Weapon That Does Everything, is still at roost in the peacetime bureaucracy - trying to build a Swiss Army Knife rifle. Admirably, the troops have been resisting them. With active combat ops going on around the world, we have the goad to get something done, and tested in real conditions, that will hopefully shorten the development cycle and avoid the SAK paradigm.

If want to take a look, click the Search Page link and type OICW into the search bar. Note to Dan - if it was possible to link directly to the Search Page results... 8^)

John | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0) | Global War on Terror (GWOT) | Observations on things Military
Comments on Bye-bye M16?
Lu Baihu briefed on November 23, 2003 01:19 PM

Are you familiar with the XM8 Lightweight Assault Rifle? Horrible in appearance - (warning, the pic is 591kb) - but it's vaunted to be the 2005-on standard-issue rifle. Just about all the info you need is there, but it'll use the same STANAG magazines as the M16; the gas system is reportedly adopted from Heckler & Koch's G36 rifle, as they are the XM8's makers, and it seems they're adopting its versatility as well - the buttstock is removable entirely, a 40mm grenade launcher can be attached (no word if the M203 however'll be accepted), and various barrel/handguard units exist for the forms in which the XM8 will be used, the differences being a mere barrel change, so all XM8 forms will feature the same receiver and optics (infrared laser pointer, infrared illuminator, visible red-dot laser pointer, open iron sights, and a unknown-power telescope.)

What do you think?

John of Argghhh! briefed on November 23, 2003 01:58 PM

Here's an easier to read link regarding the XM8.

As for an opinion on it - The Imperial Armorer, being firmly mired in the past as regarding the aesthetics of weaponry, finds the rifle vulgar.

As a recent retiree still within the 5 year window when I might get recalled, I will admit I haven't been keeping up with small arms developments. I've been busy these last years trying to rationalize the C4ISR boxes and the training sims and federations that drive them in the training arena.

My interest has been piqued, however, so I will no start digging into the subject at bit.

J.M. Heinrichs briefed on November 23, 2003 07:19 PM

I think this may have had some influence in the change of status for the OICW program: http://world.guns.ru/assault/as41-e.htm. Of particular note is that it weighs 4.6kg empty, with the 203-varient attached; the last specs on the OICW indicated it weighed c.8kg.

Somewhere I have pics of the XM-8 as the basis of a new OICW, using the 25mm round from the OCSW as the HE portion of the weapon.

And that PPT I sent you, the news is out. Here's some additional stuff for your delection: http://www.sfu.ca/casr/101-c7a2.htm.

Cheers
JMH

blaster briefed on November 23, 2003 08:52 PM

I think the OICW program people really, really liked Aliens.

blaster briefed on November 23, 2003 09:18 PM

PS, I went to a gun show early this year (pre Iraq) and a seller that had Ar-10's said he could get anything but AR-10T's - the match grade ones. Said DoD was picking up the entire production.

I wasn't sure if he was just covering for not having product, or what, but I did see some quick video of what looked like to me a 3/4's scale Marine running along a street, and then I realized the Marine was full scale, the rifle was just bigger - I think he was carrying an AR-10. So I think they salted a few of them out to put some 7.62 out there.

Also, I read where the SF in Afghanistan (where they were shooting at longer range) had been using 6.8mm (I think it was) ammo in modified M-16's - evidently just rebarrelled, and the case is not necked down like in the 5.56.

For all the bitching and moaning about the M16, though, it is interesting to note that it has been in service longer than any other rifle in the US military.

And the XM-8 will use the same ammo, with the G-36 firing mechanism. BTW, I like this concept of the XM-8 better.