Non-Subscriber Extract
USMC nears automatic rifle replacement
By Scott R Gourley with additional reporting by Kate Tringham
09 February 2009
The US Marine Corps (USMC) Systems Command (MCSC) has announced the award of four contracts to three companies for the USMC's Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR) programme.
As described under an early 'sources sought' announcement in July 2005, the IAR would be a non-developmental 5.56 mm weapon that could "enable the fire team to rapidly suppress point and area targets of immediate concern.
"The IAR will replace the infantry's M249 Squad Automatic Weapons [SAWs] with an automatic rifle easily operable by a single infantry marine that emphasises light weight and portability in order to maximise dismounted manoeuvrability", it stated.
The announcement identified a range of both threshold/mandatory and objective/desired attributes for the IAR. Examples included: an empty weight (excluding the magazine and accessories) of less than 12.5 lb (5.67 kg) as a threshold and 10.5 lb as objective; a sustained rate of fire of 360 rounds per minute (threshold) and 750 rounds per minute (objective); and accommodate a magazine with a threshold capacity of 100 rounds with an objective goal of a magazine that permits rapid visual determination of the number of rounds remaining. In addition, service planners mandated that the IAR "shall accept and function with the current Marine Corps service rifle [the M16A4] 30-round magazines".