03-05-2013, 08:03 AM
Michael Wrote:Several years ago, I was part of the team that looked at Personal Defense Weapons (PDW) for the Marine Corps. As I remember it, there was no talk in the requirements for a specific bullet weight, caliber or velocity. We were focused on accuracy at 100m, penetration/damage in gel, and penetration of body armor type X (cannot remember what type we wanted to penetrate), weight/size of system, ammo capacity and weight of ammo, and modularity of the system/ability to accept current optics/accessories. Purpose of the PDW was to replace the M9 for vehicle drivers, aircrew, and armored vehicle crewmen with a weapons system more capable than the M9, yet smaller than the M4/16.
The other focused area we looked at was what would be the suitability of anything we recommended for the future - theaters other than Iraq/Afghanistan. None of us on this team was SpecOps, nor were any of us competition shooters. We all had some combat experience, and came from a variety of specialties. We all realized to get the corporation to buy off on our recommendations, we needed to show utility in all military applications, current and future, and get buy in from all parts of the corporation – not just the combat arms folks. This is the same tact that would need to be taken for – I would assume – any military small arms procurement.
Was this the one which involved testing the MP7 and P90? This is somewhat OT, but I never did hear the outcome of that - can the conclusions be revealed?