This post was written by the Program Manager for Soldier Weapons COL Douglas Tamilio.
As the Project Manager for Soldier Weapons and someone with 28 years of Army service, I take the capabilities and reliability of the M4 weapon system very seriously. With its history of extensive testing and successive improvements based upon Soldier feedback, what we have in today’s M4 is a world-class weapon that has proven itself in thousands of firefights over eight years of warfare.
Some numbers for you: since the M4 Carbine was put into service, well over 8 million rounds have been fired through the weapon system during testing. In fact, the M4 actually exceeds its operational requirements by 500 percent. The requirement is 600 mean rounds between stoppages; the M4’s current demonstrated reliability is over 3,600 mean rounds between stoppages. We have achieved this level of performance as a result of our continuous improvement to the M4. For example, the Army has made 62 enhancements to the weapon system since its adoption in 1991, and we will continue to improve its reliability going forward.
Further, we know that our Soldiers are rightly confident in the M4. In FY09 post combat surveys conducted by the Infantry Center, 93 percent of the Soldiers rated the M4 as an effective weapons system.
To learn more about the reliability of our weapon systems and what lies ahead for our small arms programs, please read our information paper “Reliability of Small Arms.” I would welcome your comments and feedback.
When facing a formidable enemy, nothing is more important than having confidence in yourself, your fellow Soldiers, and your equipment. I can assure you that our Army is dedicated to providing outstanding equipment to our Soldiers that gives them the fire superiority they need to defeat our enemies. Our soldiers are the best in the world, and they get nothing less than our best efforts.
While I do not disagree with any of the facts presented by COL Tamilo, I must respectfully disagree with his overall assessment of the M4. The M16 family of weapons to include the M4 contains at least a dozen inherent design flaws which remain uncorrected. Just in terms of reliability, these would include the lack of a gas port regulator and the use of a direct gas impingement operating system. There have been numerous accounts of M16 and M4 unreliability, probably most recently those of overheating and jamming in the battle of Wanat, Afghanistan in July 2008.