Army Begins Equipping Soldiers with M4A1s

This is another example of the military fucking it's troops. I completely agree with Senator Tom Coburn who said-
“I am most disappointed to hear that the Army has decided to cancel the Improved Carbine Competition without ever having given soldiers the opportunity to field test the weapons to determine if there was a marked improvement to the current M4,” Coburn wrote in a June 17 letter.
“The Army continues to prioritize the modernization of other non-essential equipment over its small arms leading one to question why — if the rifle squad is the foundational element of the Army, and small arms are the rifleman’s primary weapon – would we not takes steps today to ensure that we are equipping our force with the most effective small arms and ammunition available?”

It actually seems like a pissing contest between the Army and the Senator with the troops getting the big green weeny in the end. The results of the ICC are being kept secret which is entirely unsatisfactory, it allows for complete corruption in the process. Given how many manufacturers competed in the ICC and the caliber of manufacturers (H&K, FNH, Colt, Beretta to name just a few) it's impossible to think nobody could find an improvement over the 20+ year old M4A1. The M4A1 is an excellent weapon but I don't believe that it is the weapon to carry our Army another 20 years making the frame the militaries primary weapon for more than half a century.
 
2 things: scared of change and cost/risk adverse. They are so comfortable with what they have, they are not going to risk putting up a new weapon and then go to war after. The military, army specifically has budget issues.
 
Sometimes that's the right approach, our B52 Fleet Is about 60 years old and on what iteration now B52 H? And they are projecting a service life of another 40 years. On our small arms you are talking about the single most direct link between mission accomplishment and survival. You can't cut corners on something that directly affects millions of servicemen. If there is a superior weapon system out there we need to find it or create it, not bury it to line the pockets and ego's of a few. Don't get me wrong, in my opinion the AR frame is the greatest weapon system ever deployed to a field of battle, but shit even catapults were replaced with better tech eventually.
 
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