Marine Corps chooses H&K to make SAW replacement!

[d90king]

Thoughts? 30rounds? 416 to replace SAW?

Corps chooses H&K to make SAW replacement
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Dec 2, 2009 13:14:12 EST
The Marine Corps has selected the infantry automatic rifle made by Heckler & Koch as the weapon that will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in infantry fire teams, a senior service official told Marine Corps Times on Wednesday.

The H&K IAR “was truly the best in the class on multiple levels and will finally allow the billet of automatic rifleman to be performed as intended without the disruption of the squad integrity that the M249 created,” Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeffrey Eby, the Corps’ senior gunner, said in an e-mail.

The final contract competition also included two models from Colt Defense LLC and one model from FN Herstal.

Like the SAW, each IAR finalist is built for 5.56mm ammunition. Unlike the SAW, they are not designed to operate with a 200-round drum, a point of contention for some Marines concerned about a loss of firepower. The IAR is designed to use the same 30-round magazine used with the M16, although industry, including FN Herstal, is also developing high-capacity 5.56mm magazines for the weapon that could hold 100 or 150 rounds.

The H&K IAR is the lightest of the four weapons the Corps tested this summer, after selecting finalists for the competition in December 2008. It weighs 7.9 pounds empty, with a barrel length of 16.5 inches and a collapsible stock that extends from 33 to 36.9 inches, company officials have said. It has a gas-operated system and fires from the closed-bolt position.

Marine Corps Systems Command, based at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., had not announced the winner of the IAR competition as of Wednesday morning. SysCom officials said in September that they expected a decision on the IAR to be made in October, but have declined interviews since. Eby, who oversees the Corps’ infantry weapons experts, said he has known who won the contract for about a month, but referred questions about why it has not been announced to SysCom.

A formal protest was filed with the Government Accountability Office by FN Herstal to a Marine contract decision on Oct. 30 and updated on Nov. 23, but GAO officials declined to discuss whether the protest was related to the IAR decision. Colt currently has no contract protests filed with GAO.

Eby said initial operational testing is scheduled to take place from January to May in locations ranging from Panama to the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center and Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in California.

“If successful and awarded full-rate production approval, then we should see initial operational capability by late summer 2010,” Eby said.

Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

For more information, see next week’s Marine Corps Times.

RELATED READING
• High-capacity magazine may signal demise of SAW

• Corps to reveal SAW replacement in October

• Marines to test, evaluate 4 auto-rifle models

LINK:
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news...e_IAR_120209w/

[Shawn.L]

confused smiley says it all

[King 5.45]

Squint and tell me that you don't see a friggin' XCR.

What's the point of this thing?

[synergy]

I hope that conveys my feelings on the subject.

[H22ate]

Hmm went from cuttin trees to blowin knees.... Not my cup o tea.

[Smalls]

So its basically a beefed up m16?

Didn't the SAW hold a pile of more rounds?

And it's a MG not a rifle?

[reichebrown]

Originally Posted by synergy

I hope that conveys my feelings on the subject.

Kind of off topic but i would love to have one of those and be able to use it to grade some of my students papers!

[X - Man]

I'd like to ask two questions; is it a piston operated system? What the OD of the barrel?

Seems light enough in weight to be able to be issued to the entire squad. Just give the SAW guy the larger magazine.

[Legion_Prime]

Well first off unless the MC has changed it's requirements this is actually supposed to AUGMENT the issued SAW, not replace it entirely. Secondly how the hell is this going to be worth issuing instead of a SAW. Devil better get to work on doing his speed reloads cause 30 rds aint shit on full auto and as far as hicap mags go the Beta Cmags are garbage.
Now if this is a way to backdoor a new battle rifle without kibbitzing or competition from the other services I gotta say, meh. I really don't see what this will do an M16/M4 won't, their issues stem mostly from destructive cleaning regimes, lack of lubrication and lack of proper maintenance (parts replacement and replacement of worn weapons when parts are replaced at a cyclic rate).

ETA: Damn you guys were busy while I was typing *LOL*

[King 5.45]

Originally Posted by X - Man

I'd like to ask two questions; is it a piston operated system? What the OD of the barrel?

Seems light enough in weight to be able to be issued to the entire squad. Just give the SAW guy the larger magazine.

Look at the profile of the barrel. You can see all the way to just before the magazine that it isn't apparently any bigger than the width of the birdcage at the end of the barrel: