More than a decade ago, during the war in Afghanistan, the US military first recognized the inadequacy of small-caliber rifles. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

In the mountains of Afghanistan, both the M16A4 rifle and the M4 series carbine have exposed the problem of insufficient range and power.

Very often, American GIs could only use the M240B against the enemy on the opposite hill.

At some posts, U.S. officers and soldiers even removed the M2Hs from their vehicles and placed them on machine-gun emplacements to be used as suppressive weapons.

It was during this period that the US Special Forces Command took the lead in procuring new rifles for special forces.

Of course, it was the SCAR series rifles of the FN company that won the favor of the US military.

After several twists and turns, the U.S. military abandoned SCAR-L and only purchased a small amount of SCAR-H, and then terminated the project on the grounds that the price exceeded the standard and the performance was not up to standard.

As a result, the main weapon of the US special forces is still the M4 carbine.

Although there are many reasons for SCAR's Waterloo, and it is mainly political, diplomatic and economic, and the performance of firearms is a secondary problem, the capriciousness of the US military in choosing standard firearms for special forces shows from one side that firearms based on existing guns and ammunition are difficult to meet the requirements of actual combat.

It's not that the gun isn't good enough, it's that the bullet isn't good enough.

Born in the jungles of Vietnam, the small-caliber rifle was primarily used as an alternative to the bulky M14 rifle and was aimed at the rainforests, which were often less than 200 meters away.

The first to equip troops with small-caliber rifles was the United States.

More than a decade later, the 5.56 mm was adopted by the NATO bloc, and the winning bid was the SS109 projectile, which was more stable in ballologically, not the M193 projectile adopted by the US military.

To this end, the US military also replaced the barrel of the small-caliber rifle suitable for firing SS109 rounds.

Among the major NATO members, Germany was the last to redress its troops, replacing the G36, which had been in service for decades, with the G36 on the eve of the end of the Cold War.

The Germans did not follow suit, and the main concern was actually the performance of small-caliber rifles.

Can the small-caliber rifle that shines in the jungles of Southeast Asia adapt to the plains of Central Europe?

You know, in the jungle, the distance of engagement is often less than two hundred meters, while in the open plains of Central Europe, the field of view can often be extended to four hundred meters.

In fact, the US military has long discovered the shortcomings of small-caliber rifles, but there has never been an urgent need.

It wasn't until he went to Afghanistan that the shortcomings of small-caliber rifles were exposed, mainly in range, and secondarily in power and accuracy.

The method adopted by the US military is to provide more general-purpose machine guns for front-line troops.

In response to the needs of the U.S. military, major firearms companies have launched rifles that fire 7.62mm NATO rounds, the most representative of which are SCAR-H and HK417.

It was also during this period that the design of firearms gradually became perfect.

It can be said that SCAR is the culmination and has reached a height that is difficult to surpass.

Through its clever design, the SCAR-H is as controllable as a small-caliber rifle, but with a longer range and greater power.

The problem is that no amount of ingenuity in the design can increase the extreme performance of the ammunition.

On the battlefield in Afghanistan, automatic rifles firing 7.62mm NATO rounds are barely sufficient, and the effective range of up to 800 meters can cope with most situations.

However, the issue of portability is extremely prominent.

The point is that the 7.62mm NATO shell is much heavier than the 5.56mm NATO shell, and it is difficult for even special forces to carry sufficient ammunition.

When performing some high-intensity combat missions, the ammunition carried by soldiers cannot even hold out until the end of the battle.

As a result, the U.S. military only procured a small number of automatic rifles that fired 7.62mm NATO rounds, and only provided them to special forces.

Of course, for the US military, which is highly dependent on fire support, as well as highly mechanized, rifles are always secondary equipment.

In the next war, the main weapons in the hands of the US soldiers are still the M16 and M4, and the shortcomings in range, power and accuracy are made up by machine guns, automatic grenade launchers and sniper rifles.

Quite simply, whether in Afghanistan or Iraq, the enemies of the US military are shabby terrorists.

Against terrorists without personal protective equipment, not to mention small-caliber rifles, even pistols such as the M9 have enough lethality within the effective range.

It was in Syria that the shortcomings of small-caliber rifles, and even automatic rifles, were really taken seriously.

It is not the Syrian government forces and the rebels who are pushing the existing firearms, or more precisely the existing bullets, to the grave, but civilian body armor.

During the Cold War, the technology of producing Kevlar fiber was in the hands of Western companies, and body armor became a high luxury because of its high price.

It was not until the beginning of this century, after Chinese enterprises mastered the technology of producing synthetic fibers, that body armor began to become popular.

Up to now, Huaxia has become the world's largest producer and exporter of body armor, and even the United States and other Western countries have begun to import a large number of body armor from Huaxia.

The key is that the body armor sold by Huaxia enterprises not only has excellent performance, but also has low prices.

In addition, Huaxia has no political obstacles to the export of body armor, and all sovereign countries that have established diplomatic relations with China can buy body armor from Chinese enterprises.

In recent years, the largest buyer has been the Syrian authorities.

Although there are no exact statistics, body armor is no longer a luxury item in the Syrian Defense Forces, at least one for the main combat forces.

Interestingly, the Syrian rebels also received a lot of Chinese-made body armor through various channels.

With the popularization of body armor, on the Syrian battlefield, both warring sides have found that their weapons are no longer so sharp.

Not only small-caliber rifles such as the M16, but also AK series rifles that fire M43 rounds, and even automatic rifles that use 7.62mm bullets, all of them have exposed the problem of insufficient power, and the direct result of this is that the combat efficiency of the infantry has been greatly reduced.

This problem also exists in Iraq.

As a result, coalition forces fighting in Iraq, especially snipers, prefer to use large-caliber sniper rifles such as the TAC-50.

In fact, the US military has long discovered the defects of ammunition.

Shortly after the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. military launched the LAST project, funding Textron to develop countersunk and caseless shells.

Since then, U.S. special forces have also tested LAST machine guns using countersunk shells in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the LAST project, the U.S. military did not use NATO standard caliber bullets, and used revolutionary countersunk and caseless bullets, because the existing guns and ammunition have reached the performance ceiling, and there is not much room for improvement, let alone improve the performance through firearms.

The question is, will changing the way the bullet is designed solve the problem?

The answer is no.

A few years ago, the LAST project achieved a phased success, and the special forces involved in the tests were highly praised, and all the performance was at or near the design indicators.

As a result, the U.S. military has not officially procured the LAST machine gun so far, and has not started the rifle project using countersunk shells.

Why?

Quite simply, countersunk shells, and even better caseless bullets, are designed to improve performance, but do not solve the most fundamental problems.