Individual Carbine Competition To Get The Axe

Matthew Cox at Military.com has broken the news that the Pentagon has finally got its way and the Individual Carbine Competition will be cancelled.

The U.S. Army plans to cancel its Improved Carbine competition before conducting the final, soldier-evaluation portion of this multi-year effort to replace the M4 carbine.

…

Now the Army is rethinking how to use what amounts to more than $300 million the service budgeted for new carbines through 2018. The decision now rests with Secretary of the Army John McHugh, according to another source with insight into the Army acquisitions community.

Over a year ago it was obvious to anyone in the industry that this would happen. The recent budget cuts have finally given the DoD the ammunition it needs to counter the politicians who were championing the program.

Ultimately the modular construction of the M4/AR-15 is what has kept the platform going. The design of the M4 does not put a lot of constraints of what type of upgrades can be installed. The barrel, trigger, rail, optics, magazine and other components have been upgraded over the years. The only major upgrades that cannot be achieved (without radical alterations of the rifle) are a side-folding stock, forward charging handle and quick change barrel.