Quote Originally Posted by Rifleman View Post
Abandon the product upgrade approach and focus efforts on something revolutionary: fielding a reliable caseless ammo. Having said all that.....I bet I'd like the SCAR and I hope it's a success for SOCOM.
Agreed. Caseless ammo, how huge would that be? Or something else that has that special American spark? I think the mental energy we expend micromentally improving our lot (digging ourselves in intellectually and institutionally) could be better served by using those same calories to come up with completely innovative ways to ride a new groove. We are the best in the game when it comes to innovation but aren't we also the best in the game at mass producing that same innovation in 31 different varieties and flavors to saturate the market and then riding that horse until it is good and dead?

I agree with Rifleman. What we have works just fine. I would love new kit but if we are going to talk massive overhaul let's do it do it right and really add something to the equation and not just find the newest and best way to do the same old thing. Our thinking should not just push the margins, it should blow the envelope away. The M-4, M-16 family is by no means perfect but if you do what you are told every time it will do what it is told every time. I am not sure the DoD wants to hump a combat load of 6.8, 7.62 etc.. or any "caliber that starts in 4" all day long. (Some guys have a hard enough time with 5.56)To me it is not so much about the size of the little bullet that's out there so much as the number of little bullets that are out there and how many are going which way... the (500) 5.56 rounds going outbound could care less that the (20) 7.62 rounds coming inbound have a 2.06mm "bigger package" than they do.