The Firearms Blog published what may be the only pictures floating around of HK’s 416 Sub-Compact Carbine. It was not displayed at this week’s AUSA annual meeting and rumor has it that was developed specifically for a British requirement. This is why it was only shown at DSEi and to little fanfare. Furthermore, it is entirely a developmental project and only a few are being hand fitted for the customer.
Daniel Defense is ramping up to fulfill follow on orders from their sole source contracts with the UK Ministry of Defence and USSOCOM.
The small arms manufacturer out of Black Creek, GA near Savannah received the orders over the course of the past couple of weeks. “We are excited to ramp back up these two lines of our manufacturing. Our employees are excited to continue to provide the very best product to these war fighters†says Jay Duncan, VP of Sales and Marketing.
The UK MOD order is for 12,500 rail systems to close out the year. This will put the number produced by Daniel Defense and fielded by MOD to 44,000 units.
In addition to these orders, the Philippines National Police ordered 200 plus Daniel Defense rifles. This order shows the commitment of Daniel Defense to be a company that is able to source, manufacture, and deliver quality small arms parts and rifles to the international community.
Locally, Daniel Defense recently equipped Savannah SWAT with upper receivers built to special specifications. “We have a commitment to partner with Law Enforcement agencies nationwide and abroad to meet their exact needs. We are flexible enough to build to their specific requirements,†says Brian Gilbert, General Manager US Sales.
No specifics on additional SOCOM orders was provided by Daniel Defense.
Remington announced yesterday that they have purchased the assets of Advanced Armament Corporation, a firm specializing in suppressor manufacturing. Remington serves as the lead company of the Freedom Group and in turn is owned by Cerberus Capital Management.
Recently, Remington has introduced new tactical products including the Modular Sniper Rifle (MSR) as well as the Adaptive Combat Rifle (ACR) licensed from Magpul Industries and co-produced with fellow Freedom Group company Bushmaster. There have also been rumblings of a forthcoming Remington 1911 pistol. Remington has been courting AAC for some time and there has been a great deal of speculation in industry of an impending sale. Access to AAC’s suppressor technology gives the Freedom Group a leg up on much of the competition who must partner with outside companies to integrate such capabilities with their own products. Now, firearms and suppressors will be developed within the same family of companies.
Media reports indicate that Remington/Freedom Group have no intention of replacing AAC’s executive staff. Apparently, AAC will report to Remington’s Military Products Division, but current leadership will remain in place. On Monday evening AAC posted on their blog that they were excited about the purchase, would be moving to a larger facility soon, and would benefit from increased R&D funding.
AAC can be found on the web at www.advanced-armament.com. Remington is found at www.remington.com.
During last week’s Modern Day Marine trade show at Quantico, I was perusing the items on display at the PM-ICE Marine Enhancement Program table. The program is great. Get new, innovative tools into the hands of Marines quickly without all of the red tape involved in a formal program. There has to be a valid need and the item has to be Government/Commercial Off-The-Shelf. Lastly, it needs to actually work.
Sitting on the table was a PMAG and someone asked the contractor behind the desk of these had been adopted for use by the Corps. “No” came the reply, “They wouldn’t fit in the issue magazine pouches”. Instead, according to the former Marine manning the booth, the Magpul magazine follower (enhanced self-leveling follower) was chosen as a suitable solution for 30 round magazine woes.
Oddly enough, rumor has it that the PMAG was recently granted an NSN and is being local purchased by the bushel by deploying Army units. The PMAG was also fielded as part of the lightweight equipment demonstration currently wrapping up in Afghanistan. Apparently they fit in Army magazine pouches. Who knew? Maybe the Marines could get in on that mag pouch action. No wait, they did, but then they…oh never mind.
There were a lot of great products at last week’s Modern Day Marine expo at Quantico, Virginia.
Wilcox Industries showed their new interface for the Ops-Core mount.
Speaking of Ops-Core, they debuted several new products available in early 2010. This eye shield was actually developed a couple of years ago but placed on hold while they refined the FAST technology for a military customer. The lens slides up and down on a track located inside the shell. It will replace the front brow pad inside the helmet as a unit and is ready to go awaiting production of the actual clear shield which will be manufactured by Oakley.
The Smith Optics Elite Division crew was on hand.
Australian firm Global Safety Solutions & Management PTY LTD exhibited their new wet weather laminate material. It is used in the current Australian issue foul weather clothing system.
Inert Products, LLC displayed a wide variety of training aids including the M4 “rubber duck” as well as other inert training aids.
Benchmade Knives showed a set of their HK signature knives packed inside a pistol case. The combo pack includes a 20-Tools-in-One mutli-tool, LED light, and Ally knife.
Last week the Army awarded Colt Defense, LLC., West Hartford, Conn. a $32,143,048 firm-fixed-price contract for M240B machine guns. The guns will be manufactured in Hartford, Conn., with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2015. Bid solicitation was open to firms in the U.S. and Canada with two bids received. TACOM-RI, CCTA-AR-SA, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-09-D-0175).
So now to the irony part. Almost 20 years ago FNH USA, US subsidiary of the manufacturer of the MAG-58 (aka M240) was given a contract to produce the M16A2 which had been the solid purview of Colt since the end of the Viet Nam war. Now, Colt will be producing the M240 based on a venerable Belgian FN design dating back to the 1950s. In fact just the day before the M240 announcement, the Army awarded FNH yet another $9,933,440 firm-fixed-price contract for a quantity of 15,521 M16A4 rifles.
I guess turn-about is fair play.
The FAS (Full Action, Sealed) Bag from NEMO Special Operations Shelters is designed as a semi-disposable water-proof weapon bag that maintains the ability to put the weapon into action from inside the bag.
The FAS Bag was designed to accommodate a suppressor equipped weapon and has heat resistant panels at the suppressor and ejection port. Additionally, the bag comes with a no-slip Hypalon shoulder strap. The shoulder strap is also used to tighten the bag around the weapon in order to secure excess material. A newly released version features a clear window for an ATPIAL equipped weapon. NEMO suggests that users practice extensively with the weapon in order to gain confidence with it before placing it into action. The weapon remains dry via a roll top closure that is secured with a side-release buckle.
Bags are currently available for the MP7 (shown) and M4 carbine. The FAS Bags are available from ADS.
Tags: Nemo
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For those of you running a vertical fore grip, Bobro offers a unique take on the device. It attaches via a system called the SACL (Self Aligning Compression Lock). Basically you align the grip at a 45 degree offset from the portion of the rail where you want to attach the grip. Loosen the compression lock a couple of turns, slide it into place and twist. Then you tighten the compression lock to keep it in place. A major advantage to this style of attachment is that you can attach it anywhere along the rail without having to remove any accessories already in place.
The SACL portion is machined from a polymer (Delrin). The fasteners and index pin are phosphated to Mil Spec STD 171. While the grip was not designed for the waterproof storage, items can be stowed inside the central core. Additionally, it is not rail sensitive, meaning it can be installed on any rail built to Mil-Std 1913.
The Bobro grip is available in two lengths; standard and shorty. Available from SKD Tactical at under MSRP.
