USMC iniciam entregam a IAR M27 para testes a unidades
SAW replacement set for real world testing
5 units to use Infantry Automatic Rifle during pre-deployment workups
This fall, Marine units will finally get their hands on the experimental M27 infantry automatic rifle as several units employ the 5.56mm weapon during pre-deployment training. It will likely be another year before the weapon is sent down range, however.
The plan is part of a new round of experimental testing called for by Commandant Gen. James Conway, said Lt. Col. Mark Brinkman, who oversees the program’s development at Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va. The commandant has authorized the command to buy 458 IARs, with limited fielding to one infantry battalion in each Marine expeditionary force, one light armored reconnaissance battalion and one reserve infantry battalion.
Marine officials declined to comment on which units were selected or why, but the decision would appear to indicate that Conway is seeking additional feedback on the weapon’s performance from the infantry. The Corps has tentative plans to buy about 4,100 M27s to replace the aging M249 squad automatic weapon in some infantry formations, but the commandant is concerned the new weapon, carrying a 30-round magazine, would provide enough firepower to establish superiority in combat.
The units receiving the IAR will be in the pipeline to deploy in 2011, but will get the weapon in “sufficient time to train with the weapon prior to deployment,” Brinkman said. Marines in the selected units will carry it through pre-deployment workups, including Enhanced Mojave Viper training at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif.
The limited fielding is the latest step for the program, which has been closely scrutinized by Marines who share Conway’s concerns. Proponents have countered that fielding the IAR will give Marines a lighter-weight alternative to the SAW and is also more accurate in combat.
In the last year, the Corps has narrowed its search for the weapon to a specific variant, Heckler & Koch’s HK416 IAR, and tested it at Twentynine Palms, Fort McCoy, Wis., and Camp Shelby, Miss.
The testing at Twentynine Palms enabled the Corps to see how it performed in a dusty environment, Brinkman said. Cold-weather testing was conducted at Fort McCoy last winter, and hot-weather testing was completed in June at Camp Shelby. The Marine Corps Operational Test & Evaluation Activity, based at Quantico, oversaw testing, but its report is not yet complete, Marine officials said. The agency independently tests gear that the Corps may field.
The Corps is still interested in potentially fielding a high-capacity magazine that would carry between 50 and 100 rounds, but is “not actively pursuing” it currently, Brinkman said.
“If we do pursue a high-capacity magazine, it will be critical that it does not have a negative impact on the reliability of the weapon,” he said.
