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Objective Individual Combat Weapon Program
The Objective Individual Combat Weapon or OICW was the next-generation service rifle competition that was under development as part of the United States Army OICW program; the program was eventually discontinued without bringing the weapon out of the prototype phase. The acronym OICW is often used to refer to the entire weapons program. It was started in the aftermath of the Advanced Combat Rifle (or ACR) during the 1980s. Like the ACR program, it has largely been a failure in terms of achieving the specific program goals (e.g., replacing the M16) and has cost millions of dollars, but has resulted in many innovative weapons and weapon concepts as well as offshoot programs of its own. Development The central idea of the program was to develop a rifle that enabled the attacking of targets behind cover by using airburst munitions. The munitions were to be much smaller than pre-existing grenades and grenade launchers, but large enough to be effective. The idea was refined into a c ...
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XM8 Early 01
The Heckler & Koch XM8 is a lightweight assault rifle system developed from the late 1990s to early 2000s. The rifle was designed by German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K), and shares design and engineering with their G36 rifle. The XM8 design was originally part of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program (OICW), which was developing a "smart" grenade launcher system with an underslung carbine rifle. The system was unable to meet performance and weight requirements and was eventually canceled. In the aftermath, the two portions of the OICW were separated, resulting in the XM8 and XM25 projects. While the XM8 was being considered by the United States Army as a potential standard infantry rifle, to replace the M4 carbine, this project was put on hold in April 2005, and was formally canceled on October 31 of that year. The weapon was adopted by the Royal Malaysian Navy for its PASKAL special forces. History The U.S. Army's purpose in contracting for this p ...
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XM8 Rifle
The Heckler & Koch XM8 is a lightweight assault rifle system developed from the late 1990s to early 2000s. The rifle was designed by German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K), and shares design and engineering with their G36 rifle. The XM8 design was originally part of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program (OICW), which was developing a "smart" grenade launcher system with an underslung carbine rifle. The system was unable to meet performance and weight requirements and was eventually canceled. In the aftermath, the two portions of the OICW were separated, resulting in the XM8 and XM25 projects. While the XM8 was being considered by the United States Army as a potential standard infantry rifle, to replace the M4 carbine, this project was put on hold in April 2005, and was formally canceled on October 31 of that year. The weapon was adopted by the Royal Malaysian Navy for its PASKAL special forces. History The U.S. Army's purpose in contracting for this p ...
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Operation Enduring Freedom
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced that airstrikes targeting Al-Qaeda and the Taliban had begun in Afghanistan. Operation Enduring Freedom primarily refers to the War in Afghanistan, but it was also affiliated with counterterrorism operations in other countries, such as OEF-Philippines and OEF-Trans Sahara. After 13 years, on 28 December 2014, President Barack Obama announced the end of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Subsequent operations in Afghanistan by the United States' military forces, both non-combat and combat, occurred under the name Operation Freedom's Sentinel. Subordinate operations Operation Enduring Freedom most commonly referred to the U.S.-led combat mission in Afghanistan. The codename was also used ...
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XM26 Lightweight Shotgun System
The M26-MASS (Modular Accessory Shotgun System) is a shotgun configured as an underbarrel ancillary weapon attachment mounted onto the handguard of a service rifle, usually the M16/ M4 family of United States military, essentially making the host weapon a combination gun. It can also be operated as a stand-alone shotgun by attachment to a pistol grip/collapsible buttstock module. Rollout commenced in 2013, replacing the M500 shotguns in service. Development The M26-MASS is a lightweight underbarrel shotgun configured to be secured to a main rifle, developed by C-More Systems and manufactured by Vertu Corporation and originally marketed toward special operations forces. It attracted the interest of soldiers being deployed to Afghanistan who wanted a lightweight system that could eliminate the need to carry additional weapons. The M26-MASS had been in development at the U.S. Army's Soldier Battle Lab since the late 1990s. The idea was to provide soldiers with lightweight a ...
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FN SCAR
The FN SCAR (Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle) is a family of gas-operated short-stroke gas piston automatic rifles developed by Belgian manufacturer FN Herstal (FN) in 2004. It is constructed with modularity for the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to satisfy the requirements of the SCAR competition. This family of rifles consist of two main types. The SCAR-L, for "light", is chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO and the SCAR-H, for "heavy", is chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO. Both are available in ''Close Quarters Combat'' (''CQC''), ''Standard'' (''STD''), and ''Long Barrel'' (''LB'') variants. In early 2004, United States Special Operations Command The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Arm ... (USSOCOM) issued a solicitation for a family of Special Oper ...
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Steyr AUG
The Steyr AUG () is an Austrian bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge, designed in the 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and now manufactured by Steyr Arms GmbH & Co KG. It was adopted by the Austrian Army in 1978 as the StG 77 (''Sturmgewehr 77''), where it replaced the 7.62×51mm NATO StG 58 automatic rifle (a licence-built FN FAL).Ezell (1993) p. 223 In production since 1978, it is the standard small arm of the ''Bundesheer'' and various Austrian federal police units, and its variants have also been adopted by the armed forces of dozens of countries, with some using it as a standard-issue service rifle. Steyr AUG importation into the United States began in the 1980s as the AUG/SA (SA denoting semiautomatic). President George H.W. Bush banned the AUG via an executive order under the 1989 Assault Weapon Import Ban. Six years into the ban, AUG buyers gained a reprieve as cosmetic changes to the carbine's design allowed importation on ...
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Arms Industry
The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and servicing of military material, equipment, and facilities. Arms-producing companies, also referred to as arms dealers, or as the military industry, produce arms for the armed forces of states and for civilians. Departments of government also operate in the arms industry, buying and selling weapons, munitions and other military items. An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition - whether privately or publicly owned - are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination. Products of the arms industry include guns, artillery, ammunition, missiles, military aircraft, military vehicles, ships, electronic systems, military communications, night-vision devices, holographic weapon sights, laser rangefinders, laser sights, ...
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M9 Pistol
The Beretta M9, officially the Pistol, Semiautomatic, 9mm, M9, is the designation for the Beretta 92FS semi-automatic pistol used by the United States Armed Forces. The M9 was adopted by the United States military as their service pistol in 1985. The 92FS won a competition in the 1980s to replace the M1911A1 as the primary sidearm of the U.S. military, beating many other contenders, and only narrowly defeating the SIG Sauer P226 for cost reasons. It officially entered service in 1990. Some other pistols have been adopted to a lesser extent, namely the SIG P228 pistol, and other models remain in use in certain niches. The M9 was scheduled to be replaced under a United States Army program, the ''Future Handgun System'' (FHS), which was merged with the ''SOF Combat Pistol'' program to create the ''Joint Combat Pistol'' (JCP). The JCP was renamed ''Combat Pistol'' (CP), and the number of pistols to be bought was drastically cut back. The U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps ...
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Light Machine Gun
A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the same combat unit are often referred to as squad automatic weapons. Characteristics While early light machine guns fired full-powered rifle cartridges, modern light machine guns often fire smaller-caliber rifle cartridges than medium machine guns – generally the same intermediate cartridge fired by a service's standard assault rifle – and are usually lighter and more compact. Some LMGs, such as the Russian RPK, are modifications of existing designs and designed to share the same ammunition. Adaptations to the original rifle generally include a larger magazine, a heavier barrel to resist overheating, a more robust mechanism to support sustained fire and a bipod. A light machine gun is also defined by its usage as well as its specificati ...
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M249 Squad Automatic Weapon
The M249 light machine gun (LMG), also known as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), which continues to be the manufacturer's designation, and formally written as Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is the American adaptation of the Belgian FN Minimi, a light machine gun manufactured by the Belgian company FN Herstal (FN). The M249 is manufactured in the United States by the subsidiary FN Manufacturing LLC, a company in Columbia, South Carolina, and is widely used in the U.S. Armed Forces. The weapon was introduced in 1984 after being judged most effective (compared to a number of candidate weapons) to address the lack of automatic firepower in small units. The M249 provides infantry squads with a high rate of machine gun fire, combined with the accuracy and portability of a rifle. The M249 is gas operated and air-cooled, it has a quick-change barrel (allowing the gunner to rapidly replace an overheated or jammed barrel), and a folding bipod attached to the front of the ...
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M4 Carbine
The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO, gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively used by the United States Armed Forces, with decisions to largely replace the M16 rifle in United States Army (starting 2010) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) (starting 2016) combat units as the primary infantry weapon and service rifle. The M4 has been adopted by over 60 countries worldwide, and has been described as "one of the defining firearms of the 21st century". Since its adoption in 1994, the M4 has undergone over 90 modifications to improve the weapon's ergonomics and modularity, including: the M4A1, which strengthened the barrel and removed the burst-fire option; the SOPMOD, an accessory kit containing optical attachments; and the underbarrel M203 grenade launcher. In April 2022, the U.S. Army selected the SIG MCX SPEAR ...
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Directorate Of Combat Developments
Directorate may refer to: Contemporary *Directorates of the Scottish Government * Directorate-General, a type of specialised administrative body in the European Union * Directorate-General for External Security, the French external intelligence agency * Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, the premier intelligence service of Pakistan and a division of Pakistan Army * Directorate General of Civil Aviation (India), India's civil safety watch and responsible for investigation for aviation incidents * General Intelligence Directorate (Jordan), the Jordanian state intelligence agency * Intelligence Directorate, the Cuban state intelligence agency * Veterinary Medicines Directorate, an agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (United Kingdom) * Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel), the Israeli Defence Force unit in charge upon collecting information in cooperation with the Mossad * Unit, the Norwegian directorate for information and communications te ...
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