New Army uniform but no new rifle/cartridge?

[stanc]

Nothing official. But when you bring up the subject of a new caliber or rifle you are told we can not afford that. And it is not just changes to the uniform rather that the Army is getting rid of the ACU in favor of a new muliticam style uniform.

Well, the M4 carbine and 5.56 NATO ammo are at least usable (I think LRRPF52 considers them ideal. ), so replacing them does not seem a particularly urgent matter.

However, the UCP has proven to be very poor at concealment in most terrain types, and really should be replaced.



Scorpion pattern development has already been paid for, so there's no additional cost in that regard, and battle uniforms wear out with use and need to be replaced, anyway. So, the cost over and above what would be incurred by sticking with the UCP is probably too little to be of consequence. The cost penalty is certainly not billions of dollars.