Warrior9(Ret)
Elite
Yep. I like it
US Army Issues Intent to Sole Source Procurement of M4/M4A1 Carbines from Colt
- Thread starter Talyn
- Start date
Recusant
Hellcat
I hope they don't cut back their civilian handguns and rifles like they did years ago when they had gov't contracts.Yep. I like it
Warrior9(Ret)
Elite
I remember that. Back order time was crazy
Recusant
Hellcat
and their single action armys were almost impossilbe to get since they were made in the custom shop
Talyn
SAINT
The Czech Republic (the western 1/2 of the old Czechoslovakia) in central Europe.
FN is headquartered in Belgium.
Bassbob
Emissary
How can it be both Czech and Belgian ?
Talyn
SAINT
?? is both Czech & Belgium
FN & the Czech Group (Colt CZ) are seperate European companies, headquartered in seperate countries.
Talyn
SAINT
The rest of the story...
nationalinterest.org
www.military.com
----------------------------
Plus, some explanations from other sources elsewhere.
#1 -
Colt has long been a key supplier to the U.S. military, but in 2013 lost its contract with the government to supply the successor to the M16, the M4 carbine, because of reliability issues. Soldiers reportedly complained that the M4 was prone to malfunction in the dusty environments encountered in the field in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The contract was instead awarded to a Belgian firearms manufacturer and in 2015, Colt Defense filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
#2 - FN had the latest several contracts for the M16 and some M4's, but not all, Rock River Built some, Colt Built some, Remington built some and there were other suppliers. Remington won the last small contract, and wanted the IDIQ contract, Colt fought for it and lost because of cost per rifle. Now FN has the contract for all of them.
"On 1 July 2009, the U.S. Army took complete ownership of the M4 design. This allowed companies other than Colt to compete with their own M4 designs. The Army planned on fielding the last of its M4 requirement in 2010. On 30 October 2009, Army weapons officials proposed a series of changes to the M4 to Congress. Requested changes include an electronic round counter that records the number of shots fired, a heavier barrel, and possibly replacing the direct impingement system with a gas piston system.
The benefits of this, however, have come under scrutiny from both the military and civilian firearms community. It should also be pointed out that, according to a PDF detailing the M4 Carbine improvement plans released by PEO Soldier, the direct impingement system will only be replaced after reviews are done comparing the direct impingement system to commercial gas piston operating system to find out and use the best available operating system in the US Army's improved M4A1."
"In September 2010, the Army announced it would buy 12,000 M4A1s from Colt Firearms by the end of 2010, and would order 25,000 more M4A1s by early 2011. The Army announced also to have open competition for the newly designed M4 bolt carrier and gas piston operation system, which would be fitted to the newly bought M4A1 carbines.
The service branch planned to buy 12,000 of these conversion kits in early 2011. In late 2011 the Army bought 65,000 more conversion kits. From there the Army had to decide if it would upgrade all of its M4s.
On 21 April 2012, the US Army announced to begin purchasing over 120,000 M4A1 carbines to start reequipping front line units from the original M4 to the new M4A1 version. The first 24,000 were to be made by Remington Arms Company. Remington was to produce the M4A1s from mid-2013 to mid-2014.
After completion of that contract, it was to be between Colt and Remington to produce over 100,000 more M4A1s for the US Army. (HERE IS WHERE AND WHY I THINK COLT WAS PUNISHED) Because of efforts from Colt to sue the Army to force them not to use Remington to produce M4s, the Army reworked the original solicitation for new M4A1s to avoid legal issues from Colt.
On 16 November 2012, Colt's protest of Remington receiving the M4A1 production contract was dismissed, which was thought to likely result in the Army re-awarding the contract to Remington. Instead, the Army awarded the contract for 120,000 M4A1 carbines worth $77 million to FN Herstal on 22 February 2013.
---------------------------
The moral of the story is the US Govt. sources equipment from various manufacturers when needed.
How Colt Lost Its Big Contract To Sell the US Army Rifles
Belgium’s Fabrique Nationale (FN) and Colt have long been competitors on the American firearms market. For almost a century both companies have competed for military contracts, designers, and sales on the American civilian market. However, in the 2000s, FN dealt a blow that stung Colt: it won a...
nationalinterest.org
Army Awards New M4/M4A1 Contract to FN
----------------------------
Plus, some explanations from other sources elsewhere.
#1 -
Colt has long been a key supplier to the U.S. military, but in 2013 lost its contract with the government to supply the successor to the M16, the M4 carbine, because of reliability issues. Soldiers reportedly complained that the M4 was prone to malfunction in the dusty environments encountered in the field in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The contract was instead awarded to a Belgian firearms manufacturer and in 2015, Colt Defense filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
#2 - FN had the latest several contracts for the M16 and some M4's, but not all, Rock River Built some, Colt Built some, Remington built some and there were other suppliers. Remington won the last small contract, and wanted the IDIQ contract, Colt fought for it and lost because of cost per rifle. Now FN has the contract for all of them.
"On 1 July 2009, the U.S. Army took complete ownership of the M4 design. This allowed companies other than Colt to compete with their own M4 designs. The Army planned on fielding the last of its M4 requirement in 2010. On 30 October 2009, Army weapons officials proposed a series of changes to the M4 to Congress. Requested changes include an electronic round counter that records the number of shots fired, a heavier barrel, and possibly replacing the direct impingement system with a gas piston system.
The benefits of this, however, have come under scrutiny from both the military and civilian firearms community. It should also be pointed out that, according to a PDF detailing the M4 Carbine improvement plans released by PEO Soldier, the direct impingement system will only be replaced after reviews are done comparing the direct impingement system to commercial gas piston operating system to find out and use the best available operating system in the US Army's improved M4A1."
"In September 2010, the Army announced it would buy 12,000 M4A1s from Colt Firearms by the end of 2010, and would order 25,000 more M4A1s by early 2011. The Army announced also to have open competition for the newly designed M4 bolt carrier and gas piston operation system, which would be fitted to the newly bought M4A1 carbines.
The service branch planned to buy 12,000 of these conversion kits in early 2011. In late 2011 the Army bought 65,000 more conversion kits. From there the Army had to decide if it would upgrade all of its M4s.
On 21 April 2012, the US Army announced to begin purchasing over 120,000 M4A1 carbines to start reequipping front line units from the original M4 to the new M4A1 version. The first 24,000 were to be made by Remington Arms Company. Remington was to produce the M4A1s from mid-2013 to mid-2014.
After completion of that contract, it was to be between Colt and Remington to produce over 100,000 more M4A1s for the US Army. (HERE IS WHERE AND WHY I THINK COLT WAS PUNISHED) Because of efforts from Colt to sue the Army to force them not to use Remington to produce M4s, the Army reworked the original solicitation for new M4A1s to avoid legal issues from Colt.
On 16 November 2012, Colt's protest of Remington receiving the M4A1 production contract was dismissed, which was thought to likely result in the Army re-awarding the contract to Remington. Instead, the Army awarded the contract for 120,000 M4A1 carbines worth $77 million to FN Herstal on 22 February 2013.
---------------------------
The moral of the story is the US Govt. sources equipment from various manufacturers when needed.
Last edited:
deadduck357
Custom
Right