Industry shooting for Army's first new rifle in half century.

• Author: Parsons, Dan

The U.S. military has not changed its troops' primary weapon in 50 years. Efforts to replace the M16 family of infantry rifles with a significantly improved design have repeatedly failed, resulting in soldiers and Marines carrying the same weapon into combat in the 21st century that was first introduced when their parent's generation was fighting the Vietnam War.

The M16's streak as the longest-running standard U.S. infantry rifle could be ended later this year when the Army announces results from two years of sorting through candidates for the "individual carbine" competition.

Several companies are awaiting word on the Army's progress with the individual carbine competition. The companies still in the running are Adcor Defense, Colt Defense, FNH USA, Heckler & Koch and Remington.

The competition phase has already lasted two years. The IC competition began with a request for proposals in 2011, and sample testing is currently underway. A decision on which rifle the Army prefers is expected in 2013.

After determining the weapon that best meets the requirement, the Army will conduct a cost-benefit analysis. This will determine if it is in the best interest of the Army to procure the winning carbine, and if so, what the ultimate fielding plan will be.

Greg Ulsh, vice president of military operations at FNH USA, said the company remains "curious" about the Army's intentions. It has been more than 10 months since anyone at his company, which also manufactures Ml 6s for the Army, has had word from the military he said.

"Of course we are very anxious to find out what happens," U1sh said. "We think we have a great gun."

That sentiment was shared by spokesmen for each of the companies vying for the IC contract. For most, it is the third time in as many decades they have offered the Army an alternative to the M16.

In the 1980s, the Advanced Combat Rifle program produced several prototype weapons, but none that were deemed superior to the M16. It was canceled and revived as the Objective Individual Combat Weapon development project, which again resulted in several widely varied prototypes, but none reached production.

When that was scrubbed, the Army partnered with German firearms manufacturer Heclder & Koch to develop the XME3 system. Development stalled in 2005, then was terminated in 2005 after it, too, was deemed insufficiently superior to the M16.

Soldiers who use the M16, and increasingly the M4, are fairly pleased with the weapon, though it has...