The NY Times published a great article on the M4 and compares the barrels used on the Army issue carbine with SOCOM’s M4A1 heavier barrel profile. Check it out and watch the videos. I think that they speak for themselves and that the article is well balanced and avoids the sensationalism surrounding small arms found on many military blogs.
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.
