H&K is frontrunner in IAR competition - Marine Corps News, news from Afghanistan - Marine Corps Times

H&K is frontrunner in IAR competition

The Marine Corps has selected the infantry automatic rifle made by Heckler & Koch as the weapon that will likely replace many M249 Squad Automatic Weapons in the rifle squad, and could begin fielding the IAR by next summer, a senior service official said.

The H&K IAR beat out three other models in the competition, which was launched in 2006 and narrowed to four finalists made by three companies in December 2008, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeffrey Eby, the Corps’ senior gunner, said Wednesday in an e-mail message. With several months of testing ahead, the decision isn’t considered final, but it makes the H&K model the clear front-runner in the competition.

It “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,” Eby said.

The final contract competition also includes two IAR models from Colt Defense LLC, maker of the M4 carbine, and one model from FN Herstal, maker of the SAW. The H&K model is a variant of its HK416 assault rifle, which uses a spring-buffered short-stroke gas piston system, and the only finalist that fires only from the closed-bolt position.

Company officials from FNH and Colt did not return calls seeking comment. Steve Galloway, an H&K spokesman, declined to comment on the competition.

The Corps will now put H&K IAR through five months of testing beginning in January and taking place in locations ranging from Panama to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center and Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in California, Eby said. The Corps has ordered 24 H&K IARs for testing, said Capt. Geraldine Carey, a spokeswoman with Marine Corps Systems Command, based at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.

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 the Corps is also interested in a high-capacity magazine that would fit the IAR and hold between 50 and 100 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.

Related reading

• High-capacity magazine may signal demise of SAW

• Corps to reveal SAW replacement in October

• Marines to test, evaluate 4 auto-rifle models