Things that make ya go Hmmmmmmm. . .

[unhappycamper]

The Army, Navy and Marine Corps time have an article titled "The ill-fated XM8: How the Army’s ‘next rifle’ was doomed by infighting" that has gone AWOL. http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/

I've never heard of the XM8, so I decided to go looking for one.




Final version of the XM8 before it was cancelled

XM8 rifle

The XM8 is the project name for a lightweight assault rifle system that was under development by the United States Army from the late 1990s to early 2000s. The Army worked with the small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K) to develop the system to its requirements in the aftermath of the OICW contract, for which H&K had been a subcontracter to ATK. Although there were high hopes that the XM8 would become the Army's new standard infantry rifle, the project was put on hold in early 2005, and cancelled on October 31, 2005.

General Dynamics was involved in latter stages and H&K had plans to produce the rifle at a plant in Georgia. H&K was British owned at the start of the project, but was later bought back by a group of German investors. Engineering work was done at facilties in the United States and Germany.

Overview

The Army's main purpose in contracting for this prototype weapon was to provide replacement options for the venerable M16 rifle after the XM29 program ran into problems. The Army's goal was a weapon that was cheaper, lighter, and more effective than the M16 and M4 Carbine series of weapons. The XM8 was not just one weapon, but a system which can be reconfigured with appropriate parts to be any one of several variants including a short-barreled personal defense weapon to a bipod-equipped support weapon. It also included many next generation electronics in a special integrated firearms optic/IR designater/pointer.

The XM8 was based on the kinetic energy module of Alliant Techsystems's XM29 OICW project, of which the weapon mechanisms were the responsibility of H&K. Following the indefinite delay of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program, the U.S. Army requested that H&K design stand-alone weapons from the XM29's kinetic energy and high explosive modules.

With the first 30 prototypes delivered as of November 2003, XM8 prototypes entered testing, and later, at least 200 developmental prototypes were procured. Among the complaints during testing were too low a battery life for the weapon's powered sight system and some ergonomics issues. Two other key issues were reducing the weapon's weight and increasing the heat resistance of the hand guard, which would start to melt after firing too many rounds. The main testing was largely completed, and the Army pushed for funding for a large field test. However, in 2004 Congress denied $26 million dollars funding for 7,000 rifles to do a wide scale test fielding of the XM8 in 2005. At the time the rifle still had developmental goals that were incomplete, primarily associated with the weapon's weight; the battery life had been extended, and a more heat-resistant plastic hand-guard added. The earliest product brochure lists the target weight for the carbine variant at 5.7 lb (2.6 kg) with the then current prototype at 6.2 lb (2.8 kg). The weight of the carbine prototype has since grown to 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) according to a brochure released by HK and General Dynamics in January 2005.



uhc comment: $26,000,000 divided by 7,000 rifles = $3,714 per rifle. Another shining example of your tax dollars at work.