It’s not often that you get something for free but the Army is offering just that with their Individual Carbine M855A1 Familiarization Shoot and Compatibility Check. Available exclusively for those firms that plan on answering the Army’s call for a new Individual Carbine, they will have the opportunity to fire 10,800 rounds of the new M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round. Additionally, they will have the chance to check compatibility of their system with the Army’s 40mm M320 Grenade Launcher and 12 Ga M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System.
LTC Chris Lehner, Program Manager, Individual Weapons commented to SSD, “This shoot represents the first chance for our industry partners to see for themselves just how their weapons perform when using the powerful new M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round (EPR).”
The event will be held at the world renown HP White Laboratory which serves as a ballistic test facility. LTC Lehner went on to explain this choice, “By hosting the event at the independent H.P. Laboratory, vendors can familiarize themselves with the EPR and the accessory weapons in a non-competitive environment and know that their results are confidential and will remain proprietary. The info/results they gain can then be used to tweak their weapons (if needed) and better shape their proposals, both of which will be needed for the competition starting this summer.”
While the IC competition will be open to additional calibers other than 5.56, the military will not provide ammunition in those calibers for this event. However, manufacturers who plan on entering such weapons into the competition are still invited to participate in the compatibility portion of the event.
Not only is this a great opportunity for those companies who are interested in offering a candidate for the Individual Carbine program to see how their weapon fairs with the new M855A1 round as well as ancillary items but it also is signal to the rest of us that this thing is real. This is the first tangible stop on a long road to a new rifle for the US Army.
LTC Lehner’s final comment to me was the most important. He said, “We are committed to a fair, transparent, and open competition…we feel that the more we can engage industry in the process early on, like this Shoot/Check at HP White, the better the ultimate product will be for our Soldiers.”
You only have until Friday the 10th to register, so get on it!
Read the entire FBO posting here.