kaferhaus
Member
A couple NCOs being given permission to use ranges etc. on their own time with equipment and materials supplied by either themselves or others, I can maybe see.. This hardly constitutes "testing" by the Army, or even an Army "unit". The officer giving this permission may have no idea the consequences should there be an accident or even any incident related to this activity.
If you want the real skinny on what the Army has in mind, it's this:
"The XM8 has the capability to switch out barrels, which means you don’t need an M4 and an M16A2,". "You only have one weapon platform and you can configure different variants of what you need. That will really do a couple of things -- it will reduce the logistics tail and the cost of maintaining that weapon and ease the training burden. While the M16 and M4 have operating systems that are about the same, under the XM8, the operating system will be identical. The optics that go with it will be virtually identical. So the training will begin at the basic level. You won’t have guys, for instance, learning how to shoot an M16A2 with iron sights in basic training and then going to the 82nd Airborne and suddenly getting an M4 that’s a modular weapon system with lasers and all that other stuff that they suddenly have to train up on."
"Developmental testing, which was conducted in coordination with Army Test and Evaluation Command, took place during 2004. Depending on the results of that testing, XM8 assault rifles could begin entering the field as early as mid-fiscal year 2006."
Lt. Col. Matthew Clarke, U.S. Army Project Manager for Individual Weapons
No secret "sources", no inuendo.
And for you commandos that don't already know, the XM8 uses the 5.56 NATO.
I've known Matt since he was a 1LT.
If you want the real skinny on what the Army has in mind, it's this:
"The XM8 has the capability to switch out barrels, which means you don’t need an M4 and an M16A2,". "You only have one weapon platform and you can configure different variants of what you need. That will really do a couple of things -- it will reduce the logistics tail and the cost of maintaining that weapon and ease the training burden. While the M16 and M4 have operating systems that are about the same, under the XM8, the operating system will be identical. The optics that go with it will be virtually identical. So the training will begin at the basic level. You won’t have guys, for instance, learning how to shoot an M16A2 with iron sights in basic training and then going to the 82nd Airborne and suddenly getting an M4 that’s a modular weapon system with lasers and all that other stuff that they suddenly have to train up on."
"Developmental testing, which was conducted in coordination with Army Test and Evaluation Command, took place during 2004. Depending on the results of that testing, XM8 assault rifles could begin entering the field as early as mid-fiscal year 2006."
Lt. Col. Matthew Clarke, U.S. Army Project Manager for Individual Weapons
No secret "sources", no inuendo.
And for you commandos that don't already know, the XM8 uses the 5.56 NATO.
I've known Matt since he was a 1LT.
