Even though the US Marine Corps Issues a sole source contract to purchase additional M27 Infantry Assault Rifles to German manufacturer Heckler & Koch last April, the service had to wait for funding. An H&K employee mentioned to me during last month’s SHOT Show that deliveries would begin now that funding is in place.
Today, H&K released these photos of M27s be prepped for shipment to the Marines from their warehouse in Georgia.
For those of you unfamiliar with the M27 IAR, it was first adopted by the Marines in 2010. Made in Germany, the IAR is based on the HK416, a piston driven 5.56mm rifle. The concept behind the IAR was to supplant the belt-fed M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in the Infantry Squad with the more compact box-fed design of the M27.
In 2017, the Corps decided to expand the M27’s role, with the plan of issuing it to all members of the rifle platoon. This decision of limited fielding, based on Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen Robert Neller’s saying, “All Marines are riflemen, but not all Marines are infantrymen,” resulted in the sole source contract awarded last year.