The M16A4 is not completely gone; it will remain in the armories of some training and non-combat units in the Army and Marine Corps. It’s also possible that surplus rifles may be modified for other roles, such as designated marksmen rifles. But the ubiquitous name of the M16 in modern culture will likely be replaced by ‘M4’ when referring to America’s premier infantry weapon.
The Army is botching the procurement of what should be one of the simplest weapons to buy: the pistol. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain will soon issue a report called “America’s Most Wasted: Army’s Costly Misfire.” It says the Army has spent 10 years preparing a competition for a gun that will cost about $500. During all that time, he says, the Army has little to show but a thick, complex requirements package that perplexes gun makers and may produce a rigged result.
6 comments:
Why should this time be any different from the last time. It was rigged for Beretta to win from the git go. I remember talking to the the S$W rep who drove to town with orders from top brass to pull all the S&W firearms immediately from the test process. S&W was not the only manufacturer who eventually pulled their submissions in disgust at the political manipulations. Even the lead person tasked with the testing confided the "fix was in." Follow the $$$$ and find out which D.C. ahole has maneuvered to gain from this contract. Just an aside; are we supposed to trust John McCain's motives here????????? NOT!!!
The answer has been out there for over 100 years - 1911 45ACP
Just sayin' ... :-)
III
Hard to believe the US gubmint screwing up something (and running overbudget) on something as simple as this. Wretched pencil-neck knuckleheads.
For the military, the handgun is the "last resort" weapon.
At that point, combat is "danger close" moving really fast.
The compact 1911 in 45ACP, blasting out 185gr Golden Saber, is the most effective
last resort, close in combat weapon on the planet.
This doesn't require a "contest".
III/0317
This rigged scenario is *not* unusual. Saw this same scenario on a project my company was working on back in the 80's. After several on site test sequences (took place over a period of months), we were clearly well ahead of two competitors. One was clearly underfunded and would drop out at anytime. No worries on that outfit. The other was an 'old' name and had plenty of $$ behind them, but a poor design. They had the current contract to supply the equipment. Everyone, including the civilian inspectors knew they were doing poorly and were in trouble. *Just* before we went to the final test sequence, the test regimen changed-significantly. It was clearly intended to favor our competition and knock us out as we couldn't possibly redesign to accommodate the changes in time. Simply impossible. We followed through with what we had and, of course, the 'old' name won the competition. It was all very clearly rigged to get the results the military wanted. By the way, this was several years of work for dozens of dedicated people flushed down the drain. If we had lost fair and square, we wouldn't have had a problem with that. But to lose to obvious behind-the-scenes manipulation was inexcusable.
This same situation likely repeats itself with considerable frequency. No wonder we spend gazillions of $$ on dotmil and get seemingly little and/or poor results...
That's the funny part. Beretta suckered Tennessee into giving them all kinds of cash and tax benefits to move their operations from MD to TN. The Maryland politicians knew that Beretta was going to lose the contract so they said "Don't let the screen door hit ya...."
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