American Rifle - Alexander Rose [284]
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42. These statistics are available online at www.icasualties.org.
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43. Press conference February 21, 2007, transcript available online at www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10403&Itemid=128. The Iraqi government made the original $750 million request for small arms (50,250 M16s and the same number of M4s), ammunition, equipment, armored vehicles, and helicopters in September 2006 (“Up to $750M in Weapons and Support for Iraq,” Defense Industry Daily, September 21, online at www.defenseindustrydaily.com/up-to-750m-in-weapons-support-for-iraq-02643/.
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44. On Iraqi army problems, see for instance M. Gordon, “Iraqi Unit Deserts Post, Despite American’s Plea,” New York Times, April 16, 2008, p. 1; and M. Kramer, “Desertion or Break? An Iraqi Gives His Side,” New York Times, April 17, 2008.
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45. C. Lowe, “Iraqi Army to Ditch AK-47s for M-16s,” Military.com, February 27, 2008.
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46. Y. J. Dreazen and G. Jaffe, “Plan to Sell Iraqis M-16s Triggers New Controversy,” Wall Street Journal, October 8, 2007.
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47. Gordon, “Iraqi Unit Deserts Post”; on training time, see Dreazen and Jaffe, “Plan to Sell Iraqis M-16s.”
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48. C. Lowe, “Army Agrees to M4 Sand Test Shoot-off,” Military.com, July 27, 2007.
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49. M. Cox, “Newer Carbines Outperform M4 in Dust Test,” Army Times, posted online December 19, 2007.
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50. From a chart, “Slide 6,” reproduced in the most exhaustive dissection of the test at http://elementsofpower.blogspot.com/2008/01/extreme-dust-test-m4-and-others.htm, entry for January 1, 2008.The blog is maintained by an experienced Air Force tester and lead engineer. For the definition of major and minor stoppages, see J. D. Leipold, “Soldiers Confident in M4 Despite Test,” Infantry Magazine, January–February 2008.
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51. Lowe, “M4 Carbine Fares Poorly.”
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52. Quoted in Leipold, “Soldiers Confident in M4 Despite Test.”
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53. This “inside skinny” was published by David Crane, “Colt M4 Carbine Finishes Last in Latest U.S. Army Small Arms Reliability Test,” online at www.defensereview.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1077, December 18, 2007.
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54. M. Cox, “M4 May Get Tougher Barrel, Better Mags,” Army Times, posted online on December 17, 2007.
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55. Lardner, “Reliability, Cost of U.S. Forces’ Standard Rifle.”
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56. Quoted in Cox, “Better than M4.”
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57. Quoted in Cox, “Better than M4.” In another article (Lowe, “M4 Carbine Fares Poorly”) Radcliffe is quoted as saying, “We know there are some pretty exciting things on the horizon with technology . . . so maybe what we do is stick with the M4 for now and let technologies mature enough that we can spin them into a new carbine.” He added, “It’s just not ready yet. But it can be ready relatively rapidly.”
Photo Credits and Permissions
TEXT
Print collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-45520
National Park Service, Springfield Armory NHS, SPAR 947
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-62 DLC
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
W.W. Greener, The Gun and Its Development (1910)
Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary, vol. III (1877)
W.O. Stoddard, Inside the White House in War Times (Charles L. Webster & Co.; New York, 1890)
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
W. C. Church, “American Arms and Ammunition,” Scribner’s Monthly, XIX (1880)
W. C. Church, “American Arms and Ammunition,” Scribner’s Monthly, XIX (1880)
W.W. Greener, The Gun and Its Development