by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
Over the course of many years, the US produced hundreds of thousands of battle-tested, upgraded M4A1 rifles engineered to more quickly identify, attack and destroy enemy targets with full auto-capability, consistent trigger-pull and a slightly heavier barrel.
The M4AI was the product of an extensive M4 Product Improvement Program, called PIP. PIP was a far-reaching initiative to upgrade the Army’s entire current inventory of M4 rifles into higher-tech, durable and more lethal M4A1 weapons. An Army weapons developer involved in the PIP project said “The heavier barrel is more durable and has greater capacity to maintain accuracy and zero while withstanding the heat produced by high volumes of fire. New and upgraded M4A1s will also receive ambidextrous fire control,” an Army statement said.
The Army spent many years converting its fielded M4 carbines to M4A1 carbines; approximately 483,000, Army officials explained. “Most of the enhancements resulted from Soldier surveys conducted over time,” an Army official told Warrior. Over the years, the Army has made more than 90 performance “Engineering Change Proposals” to the M4 Carbine since its introduction.
“Improvements have been made to the trigger assembly, extractor spring, recoil buffer, barrel chamber, magazine and bolt, as well as ergonomic changes to allow Soldiers to tailor the system to meet their needs,” an Army statement said.
Today’s M4 is quite different “under the hood” than its predecessors and the upgraded M4A1 was even further refined to provide Soldiers with an even more effective and reliable weapon system, Army statements said. The M4A1 is also engineered to fire the emerging M885A1 Enhanced Performance Round, .556 ammunition designed with new, better penetrating and more lethal contours to exact more damage upon enemy targets.
“The M4A1 has improvements which take advantage of the M885A1. The round is better performing and is effective against light armor,” an Army official told Scout Warrior.
Prior to the emergence of the M4A1 program, the Army had planned to acquire a new M4; numerous tests, industry demonstrations and requirements development exercises informed this effort, including a “shoot off” among potential suppliers. Before its conversion into the M4A1, the M4 – while a battle tested weapon and known for many success – had become controversial due to combat Soldier complaints, such as reports of the weapon “jamming.”
Continued M4 Rifle Improvements?
For many years the Army upgraded and improved its M4, with some plans never passing the conceptual phase. All of the progress, however, has informed the Army’s current weapons. There has continued to be ongoing work to ensure the weapon is upgraded and maintained to the maximum extent.
As many as four to five years ago, the Army did conduct a “market survey” with which to explore a host of additional upgrades to the M4A1; These previous considerations, called the M4A1+ effort, analyzed by Army developers and then shelved. Among the options explored by the Army and industry included the use of a “flash suppressor,” camoflauge, removable iron sights and a single-stage trigger, according to numerous news reports and a formal government solicitation.
The M4A1+ effort was designed to look for add-on components that will “seamlessly integrate with the current M4A1 Carbine … without negatively impacting or affecting the performance or operation of the M4A1 weapon,” a previous solicitation states. This kind of approach suggest the Army’s ongoing effort to look both in a conceptual and technological sense at ways to sustain upgrades and improvements to the weapon in coming years.
XM7 Arrival
The Army’s new gas-operated, magazine-fed XM7 assault rifle is expected to arrive later this year and formally arm the operational Army by the 2nd quarter of 2024. The Army’s SIG MCX Spear is a weapon designed by SIG Sauer which was chosen for the service’s Next Generation Squad Weapons program designed to replace the legacy M4 Carbine
After awarding an XM7 production contract to Sig Sauer in 2022 to produce, as many as 107,000 new rifles for close combat forces including infantry, cavalry, scouts, combat engineers, forward observers and combat medics. The weapon will not be issued to non-close-combat forces, Army statements indicate.
Army weapons developers emphasize that the development of the XM7 resulted from extensive soldier “touchpoint” texts where the weapon was assessed, tested and fired at targets. Soldiers evaluated the weapon for ease of use, rate of fire, ergonomic variables and precision-attack. Soldier touchpoints, Army weapons developers explained, resulted in several design changes before the weapon entered more extensive production.
An Army essay on the XM7 from March, 2023 said the Army conducted 20,000 hours of soldier testing, 100 technical tests and the firing of more than 1.5 million rounds of ammunition. The XM7 is now going through what the Army called Product Qualification Tests in preparation for formal delivery and operational use of the new weapon.
The Army essay quotes a soldier with the 75th Ranger Regiment saying “I absolutely would take this weapon to combat in a heartbeat. It is light, functions very well, has an awesome load system, and is easy to handle and engage targets with.”
Following this, the Army plans formal “operational testing” in 2024 to “assess natural environments and airborne qualifications.” Although the contract is specific to the Army, it includes options for the US Marine Corps and Special Operations Community to join.
Advances in enemy body armor resulted in the XM7 firing ammunition chambered in a 6.8X51mm (.277) SIG Fury cartridge, due to concerns that legacy or standard 5.56X45mm ammunition was losing effectiveness against cutting edge enemy body armor defenses. The new .277 SiG Fury is engineered with higher chamber pressure, velocity and lethality.
While handling, weight, maneuverability and accuracy are always important for a weapon, there are several additional features of great relevance to soldiers, particularly those engaged in close quarter combat. The weapon should not be too long, as soldiers in Close Quarter Combat will need to maneuver quickly in narrow areas and switch between rooms and close-in walls. Close combat soldiers will also be “clearing” areas, meaning they will need to attack quickly and disperse while going through doorways and narrow entryways. Of equal significance, soldiers will need to make sure the weapons do not jam, something which reportedly happened more than desired with the M4 Carbine the XM7 is re
placing. Moving into the future, perhaps the most important thing is that the weapon has likely been built with the technical infrastructure such that it can be upgraded as new performance enhancing technologies arrive.
Kris Osborn is the Military Affairs Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University. This was originally posted on 19FortyFive.com as part of a syndication agreement to publish their content. You can find more of their content at 19FortyFive.com
