Back to the drawing board: Army rewrites small arms plans.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold
• Position: URBAN COMBAT

Army leaders have concluded that the service's current inventory of small arms is ill suited to the guerilla wars that U.S. ground forces now are fighting.

The M16 5.56 mm assault rifle--the standard combat weapon for all services since the Vietnam War--is considered too long, with its 20-inch barrel, for close-in urban fighting. Many Army, Marine and special operations forces have adopted a shorter version of the M16, the M4 carbine, which has a barrel only 14.5 inches long.

Another factor is that infantry weapons are too difficult to maintain and repair, said Lt. Col. Mathew Clarke, product manager for individual weapons at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.

"Today, if a barrel wears out, the weapon leaves the unit," he explained. "You're short until it is repaired. It could be days; it could be weeks, depending upon where it's got to go and whether parts are available."

The Army has been working to develop a so-called "objective individual combat weapon" to replace both the M16 and M4. The OICW is envisioned as two weapons in one, a rifle that fires a 5.56 mm round and a grenade launcher that expends a 20 mm air-bursting munition. A decade ago, the Army awarded a $105 million contract to a team headed by ATK Integrated Defense, of Plymouth, Minn. The venture included Heckler & Koch Defense Inc., of Sterling, Va., as the weapon's designer and manufacturer.

The Army eventually concluded that the XM29--with inseparable rifle and grenade-launcher components--was too bulky and of limited utility, since not every soldier needs a grenade launcher. Thus, it was decided to develop the two elements separately.

In 2002, the Army awarded a $5 million contract modification to the ATK-HK team, calling for rapid development of the rifle component, which became known as the XM8 lightweight modular weapon system. Until recently, the Army planned to begin fielding it later this year.

The XM8 has been designed in four variants, Clarke said. These include a carbine, compact carbine, sharpshooter version and automatic rifle.

XM8 parts--such as the barrel, butt stock, magazine, sighting system and carrying handle--can be interchanged, he noted. Barrel lengths range from nine inches for a compact carbine to 20 inches for a sharpshooter rifle.

HK Defense produced 300 XM8s for testing, and the Army put them through their paces in a series of trials. The weapons have earned high marks, Clarke said.

"The final environmental test took place this winter in -53 degree weather...