November 29, 2007: Last May, the U.S. Army ordered
another $375 million worth of M4 rifles. This got a lot of troops agitated
because of the continuing jamming problems with the M4 and M16 rifles. The
emails have been flying among the troops these past six months, and apparently
many were passed on to members of Congress and the media. Once more, the army
is on the defensive regarding its choice of assault rifles. The army agreed to
run more tests involving dust and reliability. These tests were supposed to
take place in August. They didn't, and after several delays they are now to
take place in December. Meanwhile, the troops keep passing around horror
stories. The army wishes it would all go away, but the web makes that impossible.
In dusty places like Iraq and Afghanistan, you have
to clean your M16 and M4 rifles constantly, otherwise the combination of carbon
and dust in the chamber will cause jams. The army and marines both decided to
stick with their current weapons, rather than adopt an easier to maintain
weapon, like the XM8 [PHOTO] or H&K 416 [PHOTO], because of the billion or so dollars it
would cost to switch rifles.
If the issue were put to a vote, the troops would
vote for a rifle using a short-stroke system (like the XM8 or H&K 416). But
the military is not a democracy, so the troops spend a lot of time cleaning
their weapons, and hoping for the best. The debate involves two intertwined
attitudes among senior army commanders. First, they don't want the hassle, and
possible embarrassment, of switching to a new rifle. Second, they are
anticipating a breakthrough in weapons technology that will make a possible a
much improved infantry weapon. This is likely to happen later, rather than
sooner, but the generals keep thinking about it.
Earlier efforts to just get the troops a more
reliable rifle have failed. Back in 2005, the U.S. Army's design for a new
assault rifle, the XM8, was cancelled. But now the manufacturer has
incorporated one of the key components of the XM8, into M4 rifles, and calls
the hybrid the H&K 416. Heckler & Koch (H&K) designed the XM8,
which was based on an earlier H&K rifle, the G36. SOCOM is using the 416,
but no one else is (except for a few police departments).
The XM8 had one major advantage over the M16. The
XM8 (like the G36 and 416) uses a short-stroke piston system. The M16s uses
gas-tube system, which results in carbon being blown back into the chamber.
That leads to carbon build up, which results in jams (rounds getting stuck in
the chamber, and the weapon unable to fire.). The short-stroke system also does
not expose parts of the rifle to extremely hot gases (which wears out
components more quickly). As a result, rifles using the short-stroke system,
rather than the gas-tube, are more reliable, easier to maintain and last
longer.
H&K developed the 416, for SOCOM, at the same
time the XM8 was being evaluated by the army. SOCOM got the first 416s in 2004,
a year before the army cancelled the XM8. The 416 looks like the M4, for the
only thing that has changed is the gas system that automatically extracts the
cartridge after the bullet has been fired, and loads the next round. SOCOM can
buy pretty much whatever they want, the U.S. Army cannot. SOCOM listens to what
its troops want, the army often doesn't. In trying to avoid embarrassment and
scandal, the army leadership is blundering into it anyway. Now the issue is
getting revived, and is getting more
attention from Congress. The army doesn't like that either.
