In the span of an enlistment, the Marine infantryman has seen weapons changes that previously took decades. Three companies should be selected to build prototypes by the end of the summer. Once selected, the three companies will have about two years to produce the weapon. The outer armory door, the weapons vault and all of the weapons racks were unlocked. Top leaders want this weapon in troops' hands soon. Five companies have until June to submit their prototypes. The new round will put soldier ranges out to 600 meters, twice as far as the effective range of the M4. Textron Systems has been working on cased telescoped ammunition designs for 14 years. Officials expect that testing, identifying and fixing all malfunctioning M4/M16 weapons will take 12 to 18 months. Using a mid-length gas system on an M4A1 carbine extends the life of the weapon system and increases the weapon’s performance over a carbine-length gas system, a study found. Load More