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Right now, top Army officials are evaluating three finalists for an initial contract of about 100,000 weapons as part of their Next Generation Squad Weapons program. Compared with its main international rival, the equally storied Russian AK-47, the M-4 has long been considered a more accurate but more prickly firearm, an “excellent weapon if you can maintain it,” as one defense publication once put it.
The Army’s modernization strategy considers the Next Generation Squad Weapons program as one of its top priorities. A 2013 competition involving eight manufacturers concluded that none of their designs was a significant improvement on the M-4.