![]() ![]() "[The Über Squad moved too fast for them to keep up because they had better night vision goggles." "That rifle squad moved faster at night than the live fire-safety chaperones," he said. Wade said that the high-end night vision equipment had proved its worth recently during a nighttime exercise at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center 29 Palms, California. They also got 60-round Magpul drums, allowing them to increase the amount of ammunition they carried. The Marines used light MARSOC body armor and advanced AN/PVS-31A night vision devices. This summer, the 13-Marine unit from 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, was kitted out with M27s, suppressors, and high-tech Ops-Core helmets borrowed from Marine Corps Special Operations Command that feature built-in hearing protection, but also magnify other sounds to improve situational awareness. "And I intend to do that."įor what else may be coming for the infantry, look to the "Über Squad," an experiment started this year by Wade. "I could kit out every grunt in the Marine Corps with the coolest s*** head-to-toe for $100 million," he said. The Marines' new 5th-generation fighter, the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, costs roughly $100 million per copy, Neller told troops at one of a dozen town hall-style addresses he gave in the span of seven days in late December. The commandant signaled his plan to invest heavily in the infantry when speaking with deployed Marines during his yearly Christmas tour. And we now have bought the finest infantry rifle for the same price the current infantry rifle is." Kitting Out the Gruntsīut with major Marine Corps investments for new rotary-wing and fixed-wing aviation platforms well underway, cost may not be the obstacle it once was for the service. "These companies are competing against each other. "The price for that rifle is comparable to what we paid for the M4s the riflemen currently have," he said. The IAR, based on the Heckler & Koch HK416, offers a longer effective range and better accuracy than the M4 carbine currently fielded to infantrymen, but it also has come with a steeper price tag: about $3,000 a piece compared to less than $1,000 for the M4.Ĭhief Warrant Officer 5 Christian Wade, the gunner for 2nd Marine Division out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, told that competition and economies of scale have pushed the cost of the M27 down significantly. ![]() ![]() Neller has in the past expressed reservations about investing in new weapons and technology for Marine grunts. But in August, the service published a pre-solicitation for up to 50,800 M27s, to ensure that manufacturer Heckler & Koch was up to the task of meeting an order that large. In February, the Marine Corps put out a request for information for 11,000 new infantry automatic rifles, enough to equip every squad. The exact number of weapons needed has yet to be determined. But, he added, artillery forward observers, fire support teams, and even engineers might be good candidates for the weapon. "I don't think mortars and javelin guys need the M27," Neller said. And while not every Marine in a grunt battalion will carry the IAR, others outside of the squad will also be issued one. Robert Neller confirmed that a decision had been made to move forward with fielding the M27 more widely within the infantry.Įvery Marine in an infantry squad, he said, will receive the high-end rifle. In an interview with in late December, Commandant Gen. This Logistics Battalion Is the Marine Corps' Next Experimental Unit.In Wake of Water Deaths, Corps May Add Swim Skills to Cutting Score.Marine Corps to Cut Infantry Assaultman Job to Resource Other Roles.With the battalion's deployment to the Pacific at an end, Marine leaders are considering a list of 41 different recommendations generated by the unit, and M27s are at the top of the list. Currently, the M27 is carried by only one member of each infantry fire team: the automatic rifleman.
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