Misfire

The Army, citing fiscal limitations, will not be awarding a new contract for the Individual Carbine and is ending the competition, according to a statement released today.

“Following extensive testing of vendor-submitted carbines, the Army announced today that the Individual Carbine (IC) competition will formally conclude without the selection of a winner,” the statement reads. “None of the carbines evaluated during the testing phase of the competition met the minimum scoring requirement needed to continue to the next phase of the evaluation.”

The Army will instead continue equipping soldiers with the M4A1 carbine. “Given limited fiscal resources, the Army’s decision would free IC funding to address other high priority Army needs,” according to the statement. “This decision is also consistent with recent testimony by the Department of Defense Inspector General (DODIG) before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which questioned the value of an IC competition in light of existing upgrades to the M4 carbine.”

The announcement is sure to ruffle feathers in industry and on Capitol Hill, where the quest for a new weapon proved to be very political.

The House Armed Services Committee, sensing the competition would be canceled, passed a bill this week prohibiting the termination, but the measure is not law.

Frustration with the IC competition also led Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who wanted to see an accelerated competition, to put a hold on the nomination of Heidi Shyu to become the Army's next acquisition executive, though he eventually lifted it last September.

“The Army’s decision not to pursue a new carbine competition was reached following careful consideration of the Army’s operational requirements in the context of the available small arms technology, the constrained fiscal environment, and the capability of our current carbines,” according to the Army statement. “The Army remains committed to the development of future competitive opportunities that support Army small arms modernization.”