Army Times article

can be found here on the upcoming carbine competition as well as detailing other new weapons being developed.

Pardon my absence!

But here is an interesting article on the upcoming carbine competition, which will actually be a competition this time around!

2009 Report "Increasing Small Arms Lethality in Afghanistan: Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer" by Major Thomas Ehrhart, USA

Here is an interesting report by an Army major on how the Army should/could improve small arms lethality in Afghanistan. He calls for, among other other things, an increase in caliber from 5.56 to the 6.8 SPC. Bravo!

PGM in Afghanistan

I don't know much about this weapon, but here's an "official" news story about it:

http://www.army.mil/-news/2011/04/07/54502-soldiers-fire-first-precision-guided-mortar-in-afghanistan/

OT but worthy of note

While browsing the aisles at the local Wal-Mart, I noticed that they had for sale the official paintball gun of the US Army, something or other model made by Tippmann. It's made in China. That's just wrong. Wildly wrong...

Army Announcement in 2010

This announcement by the Army indicted the need/opportunity for vendors interested in the improved carbine competition to familiarize themselves with the new M855A1 ammunition and to have their weapons compatible with various under barrel attachments. I have to say that I did not know there was a shotgun under barrel attachment for the M4 series. Here's more info


Odd looking piece but mag fed seems like a good idea.

Beretta ARX-160

Well, the Italian Army is certainly learning from conditions in Afghanistan. Their latest rifle has been designed to function with minimal lubrication.  Story here including video! This rifle may also be headed to upcoming improved carbine competition in the US.

New Carbine Competition

Good article at miltary.com about the Army's announced improved carbine competition:

http://www.military.com/news/article/obstacles-ahead-for-m4-replacement.html?wh=news

Can't wait to see what weapons will be entered in competition!

The above article argues that the Army is leaning toward keeping the 5.56 round as the standard round in the new competition, although it is ostensibly open to all cartridges. Hard to believe that the 5.56 soldiers on after so long. There is a great deal of emotion surrounding opinions on the 5.56 round. I have to admit that I am rather neutral on the subject, even though I do think it odd that we send our men and women into arm's way armed with a cartridge that is not legal for deer-hunting in most states!

All that said, this impending carbine competition should be a fascinating glimpse into the newly reformed weapons procurement system. Somebody should throw an M-1 carbine into competition and see what happens!

Reform Bill 2009

Old news here but a short article about the latest effort in weapons procurement reform.

Which brings up a good question: If the current system is in need of reform, what, exactly, is that system? Where did it come from? A good friend of mine today suggested that we return to the arsenal system for small arms production. Frankly, I don't think the political climate will ever be right for a return to state-run weapons production. However, the suggestion does make one wonder why Springfield Armory is now a museum and not a weapons factory. In any event, I'll be looking into the history of infantry weapons procurement since World War II and posting some thoughts and findings here as well as a bibliography on the subject.

Here  is a dated (1991) but good overview of the development of the weapons procurement system by a Marine major.

New York Times 'At War' column

Here's a link to a fairly recent column on M16/M4 reliablility by C. J. Chivers, a Times correspondent who was a Marine infantry officer before becoming a journalist:

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/examining-the-complaints-about-american-rifle-reliability/

Mr. Chivers concludes that much of the criticism levied at the AR-series of weapons "may well be overstated, even hyped." True enough, but the fact remains that the services that are utilizing or have utilized the AR weapons have had nearly 50 years to get it right, and one is fairly entitled to wonder if they have done so yet.  This is the longest serving rifle in US military history, and yet the core of the thing remains the same. Our society has produced four versions of the iPhone in about four years, yet if you were to hand the most sophisticated, 'gadgetized' M4/M16 to a grunt in the A Shau Valley, he would have no trouble operating the thing. Just seems odd....

In any event, I highly recommend the At War blog which often has some interesting pieces on small arms worldwide.

DID article

Here is a fairly recent article (Feb 2011) from Defense Industry Daily on the M4 controversy. Good background information on the ongoing saga of the M4/M16 and the Army's reluctance to adopt a new weapon despite available improved alternatives. The M16 series has been in service since the Vietnam War, roughly 45 years. That's quite a long time for a battle rifle and the longest service time of any US rifle/musket since the M1795 series of smoothbore flintlocks that served approximately the same length of time before being replaced by the percussion M1842.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-usas-m4-carbine-controversy-03289/

Statement of Purpose

I have started this blog in order to ask the question: "What have we learned or what are we learning about the performance of US infantry weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan that will help us design better weapons in the future?" I have been inspired to begin this quest after seeing a panel on Pentagon reform on BookTV the weekend of March 18-20.  The panelists--one of them was Pierre Sprey--mentioned the importance of civilians who asked questions of the Pentagon about weapons procurement and about the weapons they put into the hands of the men and women at 'the sharp end.' So, I am off to dig up what I can, mostly news stories at first. but, hopefully, I will find time in between grading papers in my various online classes and casing two kids around to do some more in-depth research on my own. Thanks for dropping by!