In a briefing at Eurosatory show in Paris last week, the head of the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier, Brig. Gen. Mark Brown, wasn’t exactly bubbling with enthusiasm when discussing the Army’s Colt-manufactured M4 carbine, though he tempered his skepticism of the gun with enough praise to soften the edges.
“Right now the M4 carbine is a world class weapon,” he said, before adding, “my personal opinion is that we have to step up to a new carbine with a more lethal round.” It was an interesting admission on Brown’s part, since some have criticized the M4’s 5.56 round as not having enough stopping power, and its habit of jamming if not constantly cleaned. This comes in the context of a wider debate over the future of the M4 as the Army’s carbine of choice, especially since many people, including the Delta Force and SEAL’s, have been singing the praises of the Heckler & Koch 416 carbine. BG Brown surely knows this, which is probably why he followed up with this:
“I don’t think we need an unhealthy, discordant debate over the current carbine because I don’t think the current carbine is a long-lived solution anyway. However, the M4 carbine has been continuously improved. It has 68 substantial engineering design changes and about 380 total engineering design changes, so it’s become a modular system. It’s very accurate, it’s the most accurate of the carbines, it’s the lightest of the carbines, and it’s the shortest of the carbines. We’re very pleased with it, and we expect it to be the Army’s carbine of record, for a little while.”
BG Brown said that next summer the Army expects to do “a full and open competition of at least the technical data package,” of the M4, “but maybe improvements beyond that. But I think that will be an interim step toward a new, more powerful carbine at a time to be determined.”
None of this is necessarily a surprise, since some high-profile Congressmen have long been critics of the M4, while calling for the Army to have an open competition for new carbines. Still, Brown’s “personal opinion” shows that the Army is, at least, listening.
As to the 5.56 round though, the problem is not the round so much as it is the shortness of the M4 barrel. The M16 does not have the same lethality problems, which raises the obvious question: why not a bullpup, as the British, French, Australians, the Israelis, etc. which would allow for a longer barrel in a shorter package.
And .... how many millions dollars were wasted in this never-ending process?
Do you not think the european small arms industries are now capable of supplying advanced and efficient infantry weapons?
For instance, US Armed Forces are already well equipped with Belgian, German, Italian and Swiss pistols, shotguns and machine-guns .....
Thanks for your interest. There are no current plans to circulate DTI through retail outlets (the same is true of AW&ST). But maybe we should think about it...