Why the xm8 failed

Weight and the LMG version were the official reasons for its cancelation. The receiver melting occurred when they were trying to reduce the weight of the weapon to around 4 lbs. The LMG aspect also caused issue as there was no easy way to swap barrels if the barrel overheated though barrels overheating in and of itself was never an issue. One last thing was while most versions of the XM8 used the proprietary mounting system the circles on the side of the gun , their were some concept models late in testing with traditional rails.

It failed because, simply put, testing proved it wasn't what the Army wanted. New weapon systems aren't funded and fielded simply because they run a little cleaner. It would be a massive waste of money when you add up the costs the new weapons themselves, new spare parts, new magazines, retraining of troops to know how it ticks And switching to completely new weapon systems in the middle of two wars poses the real possibility of logistical complications i. It may look all space-age like a laser gun, but the DoD simply does not want or need it when the M4 does the job just as efficiently.

Until some country decides to adopt it, it's going to remain dead. If the big green Army wanted a gas piston so bad, M4s and M16s are easily converted with new upper receivers without the need for retraining.

And not to mention the SCAR will eventually filter down into regular combat units as time goes on. And like is pointed out in the post above mine, the Remington ACR takes everything the XM8 is and throws the full modularity of the M4 into it. And please, people, sign your posts. Spartan , 18 January UTC.

I could see the XM8 still being useful to small teams n' such, being able to swap out parts and magazines with your squadmates in the field no matter what role they play because they have the same base weapon as you could be a big advantage.

But the ACR could probably do the same thing and it's supposedly better, but my point still stands. Good for small teams, bad for an entire military. I expect that we won't phase out the M4 or M16 until the next revolutionary change to the gun world. Well the is coming close to doing that, wouldn't you agree?

I wasn't referring to the as a next revolutionary step in firearm design, I was trying to state that the HK is coming close to replacing the M16 family, at least some branches of the US military.

Yeah I guess you're right. But that's the only way I could think of the XM8 being of any use to our military, but if the SCAR already has that role then it's pretty much worthless to us. When it comes down to it, you're still firing a 5. The XM8 inherited its proprietary magazines and ambidextrous cocking handle from it, and who knows what else. They've entered the XM8 into the Individual Carbine competition, and my guess is that it'll fail there too.

I think there were heating issues with the XM8 during testings and they never resolved the problem. They weren't dressed in any familiar uniforms. Maybe they were contractors. Excalibur01 , 13 February UTC. But Moran miscalculated when he believed the XM8 would be covered by the original Infantry Center requirement, according to acquisition experts familiar with the program.

Moran refused numerous Army Times requests to discuss XM8. He retired from the Army as a brigadier general Aug. More than four decades have passed since the Army adopted the M16 in the mids. Despite refinements over the years, the M16 family, which includes the newer M4 carbine, made by Colt Defense, currently is under scrutiny for reliability problems identified by troops in Iraq as part of an Army survey.

That has prompted one congressman to pressure the Army to release the survey results and question whether a competition for a new personal weapon is in order. Army officials so far have refused to release the survey data. They and Colt insist the M16 and M4 are highly reliable weapons. The Army says it has no plans to hold a new competition for a personal weapon. Over the past four decades, the Army worked on development and testing of new rifles such as OICW, but defense spending almost always focused on big-ticket items like the latest armored vehicles and aircraft.

To date, more than , soldiers have received an RFI kit before deploying to the war zone. Based in Fort Benning, Ga. This lightweight weapon will provide the warfighter increased mobility during combat.

This increased mobility equates directly to an increase in combat survivability and combat effectiveness. Infantry Center officials quickly challenged the need for such a venture, according to a report by Capt. The report detailed an Oct. I think it was a team effort. The new requirement caught XM8 program officials, including Lt.

Matthew Clarke, completely off guard. As a result, the XM8 — which does not include a light machine gun variant — was on hold. The higher cost required the program to come under DoD oversight, the IG memo stated.

What had started as an Army effort to expedite fielding of a new carbine by fast-tracking its own development process now had become mired in DoD bureaucracy. Army program officials attempted to garner support within DoD, arguing that soldiers deserved the best weapons available now — while they were in the war zone.

We had eight vendors respond that they could achieve this new requirement. We owe it to the soldiers in the field to allow the competition between these competitors to proceed. We could not help but win in the deal. In this case, our bureaucracy failed our troops.

What would be gained by going to the xm8. Not much, especially when a piston driven upper solves just about every major problem of the M4 and is allot cheaper.

Cuase HK got snotty to the wrong general. I think when it came time to write the check someone with a brain finally realized it was a solution in search of a problem. I talked to a local army Captain who told me the polymer was melting in Iraq from the heat.

All their dell computers did too originally. Quoted: I talked to a local army Captain who told me the polymer was melting in Iraq from the heat. Also, extended FA in cold-weather climates resulted in fatigue fractures due to rapid cooling. Go figure. Leave it to big gov't. From the simple standpoint of the current stock of spare parts for the M16 series of weapons, changing to a very different platform would be hellishly expensive. We're talking about literally billions of dollars worth of spares, plus tools, tech data, training from what the Soldier needs to know all the way through the highest level of depot support, changes in logistics support for a weapon with no established track record and thus no breakage rate to work from , and a plethora of other major, very expensive factors.

No thanks! I always thought the XM8 was a promising design, but it simply doesn't have enough advantages to warrant the incredibly complicated process of transitioning an entire army to a new weapons system, especially in a time of war. A case of the right weapon at the wrong time. I think the XM8 is a neat design, having everything integrated that is. But one of the complaints being "not enough power" with the M4, and then introducing an even shorter barrel as an improvement to the M4, it makes no sense.

Quoted: Quoted: I talked to a local army Captain who told me the polymer was melting in Iraq from the heat. If they log in and use Arfcom advice, all our soldiers will be armed with a. Or possibly a shotgun--you know, for the "rack the slide" effect. Back to topic at hand Anyone else wonder why Mr. They're perfect in every way! Anyone else starting to see a pattern here, by this particular "journalist? The true demise of XM Money and Politics. Hk would not buld a Manufatureing plant in some congress critters back yard.

Till they had the contract. Then the worst time to change over to a new rifle is in the middle of a war. As it turns out, the Malaysian Armed Forces were very interested in buying a small number of the futuristic rifles for their special operations units, namely Pasukan Khas Laut, their naval special warfare force, also known as PASKAL. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation.

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