Quote:Earlier today MARCORSYSCOM issued “Request for Information (RFI) M67854-17-I-1218 For Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM), Quantico, VA Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR)”. They are very clear at this point that is solely an initiation of market research under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10 and is NOT a Request for Proposal (RFP). To be clear, issuing an RFI is a natural step in the acquisition process.

This action comes after a short duration experiment last Fall during which, an entire Marine Infantry Battalion was equipped with the IAR instead of their issue M4s. The experiment was obviously a success. At the time there was still no requirement but apparently, they’ve worked that out and lined up funding to make this happen.

As the RFI only calls for the production of an additional 11,000 rifles, this means that only additional select Infantrymen will be issued the M27. Conversely, the Marines purchased over 45,000 M4 carbines. When the M27 IAR was initially selected, the Marines had undertaken a study to determine what it would cost and how quickly the manufacturer H&K, could build the rifles in order to pure fleet the service. At the time, H&K did not have the production capacity to meet the Marine Corps’ fielding timeline so the plan was scrapped. This new move may very well be incremental in nature, with further fielding taking a longer timeline and encompassing a larger portion of the Marines.

The 5.56mm M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle is manufactured by Heckler & Koch. It is based on their HK416 carbine and was fielded to the Marines to supplant beltfed the M249 SAW in the Rifle Squad. This RFI will assuredly be used by SYSCOM to create a a sole-source “Justification and Approval” in order to purchase the rifles directly from manufacturer H&K without going for an open solicitation. While the RFI describes the M27’s salient characteristics to a “T”, what may throw a monkey wrench in this plan is if another manufacturer or two claim they can build the weapons as well with a model based on a 416 clone.

Quote:As the Marine Corps continues to emphasize innovation and experiments with new gear, service officials are getting ready to equip a single infantry squad with an enviable range of equipment, from suppressors to polymer drum mags and special operations-issue hearing protection.

It's part of an 18- to 20-month experiment that Chief Warrant Officer 5 Christian Wade is calling the "Über Squad."

For this effort, every Marine in the Über Squad will be equipped with an M27; a suppressor; and Ops-Core helmets used by U.S. Special Operations Command with built-in hearing protection systems that muffle noises loud enough to damage eardrums, while magnifying other sounds to maintain troops' situational awareness.

As a bonus, Marines in the squad will be equipped with Magpul 60-round polymer drum magazines.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/06/13/marine-uber-squad-will-get-suppressors-m27s-socom-gear.html

Quote:There is much more to the "Uber Squad" story; most notably the training changes that I must conduct in order to ensure all of the Marines know how to execute all of the combat tasks I've added to them by increasing the capability of their weapons and optics. We are going to install 1-8 variable power optics on their M27's, for one example, and that is going to require more training. Anyone can be the Automatic Rifleman, the Grenadier, the DM, or the Rifleman based on the situation...

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/2003443_CWO5-Wade-creates-a-new-unit-using-Marines-from-1-6--called--ber-squad-issued-suppressed-M27s-with-D60s-.html&page=2#i66668686

Chrazy-Chris Wrote:"...an entire Marine Infantry Battalion was equipped with the IAR instead of their issue M4s. The experiment was obviously a success"

Why was it such a success? What does the IAR do that the M4 doesn't? They both put 5.56 down range as fast as the trigger group will allow (if they want full auto, change the M4 triggers from burst to auto like the old GAU's) and with as much capacity as the magazine that feeds it holds. It seems like they're looking to spend my taxpayer money on "upgraded" weapons systems which are nearly identical to the ones they already have. The piston system doesn't really make that big of a difference, does it?