USMC chooses H&K to make SAW replacement

[ericire12]

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2009/12/03/hk-wins-usmc-iar-competition-big-news/

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/marine_IAR_120209w/

   The Marine Corps has selected the infantry automatic rifle made by Heckler & Koch as the weapon that will replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in infantry fire teams, a senior service official told Marine Corps Times on Wednesday.

    The H&K IAR “was truly the best in the class on multiple levels and will finally allow the billet of automatic rifleman to be performed as intended without the disruption of the squad integrity that the M249 created,” Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeffrey Eby, the Corps’ senior gunner, said in an e-mail.

Like the SAW, each IAR finalist is built for 5.56mm ammunition. Unlike the SAW, they are not designed to operate with a 200-round drum, a point of contention for some Marines concerned about a loss of firepower. The IAR is designed to use the same 30-round magazine used with the M16, although industry, including FN Herstal, is also developing high-capacity 5.56mm magazines for the weapon that could hold 100 or 150 rounds.

The H&K IAR is the lightest of the four weapons the Corps tested this summer, after selecting finalists for the competition in December 2008. It weighs 7.9 pounds empty, with a barrel length of 16.5 inches and a collapsible stock that extends from 33 to 36.9 inches, company officials have said. It has a gas-operated system and fires from the closed-bolt position.

[Timothy]

I thought the M249 could use a standard AR type magazine too!

[MikeBjerum]

I thought the M249 could use a standard AR type magazine too!

Yes!  I know, because it was just on American Rifleman last night.  I can't remember long enough for having read about it in the mag.

[Texas_Bryan]

So no more dedicated automatic rifleman?  What do they mean by 'disruption of squad integrity.'  Are they just going to go with a separate weapons team for sustained automatic fire like back in the day.

[MikeBjerum]

With H&K being a German company with plants in the U.S. and many other contries, will this be a fully United States developed and manufactured weapon?

I know that FN has roots overseas as well, but my understanding is that the military weapons they produced for us were fully American.

What will be the status of H&K?

[Sponsor]

[JC5123]

Maybe it's just me, but it kinda seems like they are not replacing anything here. It looks to me like you are replacing a dedicated machine gun with yet another M4/M16 clone. And no beta mags? 

[MikeBjerum]

Maybe it's just me, but it kinda seems like they are not replacing anything here. It looks to me like you are replacing a dedicated machine gun with yet another M4/M16 clone. And no beta mags? 

The photo with the article leads you to beleive that it is just another M4, but the article says SAW.  Confusing!  I haven't been in the military but I play one in the backyard, but according to friends that have children in the sandbox and operate SAW, it is one big heavy sucker to carry around and uses combo of either belted ammo or M16 mags.

[Neon Knight Anubis]

The IAR project's premise is only to give the Marines a weapon that delivers a high rate of fire but light enough to fight with and can blend in with the M4s and M16s around. That way the guy with the full auto doesn't automatically become the primary target. I'm curious why they went with the closed bolt design, then again it is a piston system and not gas impingement so it might not get as hot in the chamber.

[Pathfinder]

My understanding is they are only replacing about 2000 of the 10,000 SAWs with this. Also, more of a squad will have these, not just a SAW gunner. I'm wondering myself, seems like a light-weight replacement, no belt-feed or anything.

Besides, H&K still thinks we suck, and they hate us.

[Big Frank]

They're replacing a machinegun with a rifle. How stupid can they get?