What is our military's next battle rifle?

As you know, the military (in particular, the Army) has been grumbling about the M4 carbine and variants for a few years now. They are not saying that it is necessarily bad, but that perhaps better designs have evolved in the past four decades or so. Additionally, in recent testing at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, the M4 had by far the worst performance and failure rate of any of the platforms tested (Adcor B.E.A.R., FN SCAR 16, HK 416, etc). Unfortunately, it appears as though the M4's Achilles heel is...sand.

Also, unfortunately, it appears as though we will be sending our troops to fight in sandy environments for the next four decades or so. The following is a link to Defense Industry Daily; a very reputable publication that carries info of this sort...on a daily basis. The rather long article is a very comprehensive look at the program to replace the M4 carbine with something a bit more up to date. The article itself is up to date as of 21 Nov, 2011. It is a pretty interesting read. Enjoy.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-usas-m4-carbine-controversy-03289/

Scot