What's the soldiers view in terms of IW replacement CD? I know systems have already been trialled, experienced and generally tutued with and would be more interested in someones honest opinion from Waiouru vs Wellington.
I guess M4 does have advantages already (allies, support, options etc) and if our tier 1s already give it the nod then can't get much more 'trialling' than that done realistically but still interested in what joe soldier thinks on the ground in terms of operation, use and functionality.
These are some of the comments on the 1RNZIR FB page;
The design of the Steyr is still pretty god damn good.... IMO, the ergonomics of the rifle are pretty good, its a little heavier than some, and doesn't have a big "cool guy" factor about it, but its smaller than the ARs and well thought out and functional.... but "i think" its the old 5.56mmx45mm that has shown its weakness... outside of the close country conflict.
And the old sight on the Steyr was also found to be wanting..... optics...optics and optics... good optics will also help no end!,
However, I do know the SCAR family was trialed a couple of years ago and found to be....inadequate.
Fuk the cocking handle though - SCARL
these comments are from very high ranking still serving Infantrymen who were a part of the last trial/tutu with Combat School/Cap branch.
As for me I started my career on the following:
M16A1/L1A1 SLR
Bren/L7A1 GPMG
M79/M16,203
transitioned to the IW/C9 been taught and instructed on the M4 and its derivatives, taught the East Timorese on the M16A2, Tongans on there Galil, instructed others on the AK series, SA80 family, SAR21, Portuguese G3 the list goes on and on.
At the end of it the only fault I can find on the IW Steyr is the sighting system the SP IW Steyr while not as sexy as an M4 outperformed the M4 in every category going like,
Reliability,
Functionability,
Range,
Lethality etc,
It is still an outstanding weapon system that's need to be updated and the F90 looks and feels a better package.
The Mk 262 ball round in an 20 inch barrel comes very close to the performance one would see in a 7.62mm rifle so my gut feeling is the F90 will be in a shoot off with what ever HK416 type system makes it, but no way is an M4/HK416 ever going to outshoot a IW in both accuracy or range the deck is too stacked thanks to that extra 4 inches and 1:7 twist in the F90.
Fully understanding your weapon knowing how to employ it is still the main fundamental skill set, there is no better proof of this mantra than the current Steyr with the 1.5 site out shooting the SP Steyr with Acogs at the Freyberg shooting Competition thanks to 5/7 RNZIR who are the current RNZIR shooting champions.
So regardless what we get at the end of the day if our training fails to prepare our soldiers properly then nothing we purchase is going to rectify that training gap.
