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• Its one of the most enduring subjects indeed. It is obvious that the rifle is not the best comparing with its competitors for the US army and for us as well. I would love to recall a statement made by a former general on national tv for saying that he wants to give the army the weapon that they have the most confident and most comfort to operate with. Hmmm, pretty good marketing strategy..

  Well that is good now we know how the process of choosing our equipment are made. Again and again, I am personally against the decision to purchase M4 which is proven failure and it is crystal clear not the best rifle we can get with our money. It is definitely without any doubt not the rifle I would carry along to battle, if only I am in the service. BTW the decision is made, nothing we can do bout the fact that our guys in green will carry this rifle. I feel sorry for them.

  Anyway, I learned that our 1 RAMD is given the honour to guard the queen palace in England and they will be equipped with M4 as well and will appear in new camouflage aside their 'no 1 uniform'. Do you have any info about the new camou?

• I know I forgot something at DSA, Core Jocque! Its the new camo uniform! Its basically the old camo but the shirt have been redesigned so the the top top pockets goes sideways ala US WWII combat uniform. It also features a rank holder in the middle of the chest so they could place the rank insgnia there.

  I think the black part of the Malaysian woodland camo have been changed to dark blue, it did not stand out too much when using NVGs although the Simrad unit I used was 2++ plus generation tube.

  The Americans had eliminated black from their camo as on their 3rd Gen NVG black glows!

  I still believe that the Army went for the M4 as it was the only piece of kit that they have the real influence over the selection and the fact that the top guys will surely be selected to join the local manufacturer once they retired.....

• The only gun that are tough enough to withstand almost punishment is the AK-47. having said that, one must remember that an assault rifle is a piece of precision machinery. it has to be cared for, cleaned and loved like one's wife. In fact, soldiers are expected to clean their rifles before they do anything else. if a rifle is properly cleaned, be it M-4, SiG 500 or HK 415, it with perform admirably, faithfully and reliably.

  As for the price of the M-4, one must remember weapons are not bought over the counter with fixed price tags. Their are often based on unit price. which means the more you buy, the cheaper it will be. the US. Army bought millions of M-4s while the MAF will acquire up to 100,000 M-4 for the first batch. And one have to take into account of the costs of licensed productions, tooling etc.

• More urban myth. AKs are not quite as soldier proof as their reputation suggests. The combination of the extreme taper on the M43 case, the chromed chamber and operating parts, tank-like magazines and most of all the giant extractor claw make it very reliable even when operating in sub-optimal conditions.

  Actually, there's no reason at all to manufacture them domestically since we cannot make them cheaper than in the US, so why bother? It's not like they can export them after factoring in their set up costs and having to pay royalties to Colt. Do you honestly believe that anyone is going to buy a more expensive Malaysian made M4 over a cheaper US/Canadian M4? Perhaps Marhalim will be able to tease out the conditions set by Colt for this deal.... they utterly guarantee that any guns made here will be completely uncompetitive.

  Do they care? Hell no. They'll factor in all their hefty profit up front and jack the Malaysian taxpayer just like they did with the AUGs. It's the same people doing the same thing all over again......we must be the dumbest schmucks on the planet to fall for the same grift back to back run by the same grifters. One does wonder what in the world is going on in Kem Kementah.

  Reminds me of a signboard the other day, "lagi satu projek (Parti Pemerintah)'. Yep, sure looks like another one of those.

• Enough with the discussion of the M4 which I think worthless to be discussed anyway since the decision has already been made. What is done is done. Lets look forward. Let the fiasco of our NGPV program,skyhawk, HK33, and many more be the lessons. The problem is we do not learn the lessons. Lets hope our future wish list be more transparent, more honesty. more honour to honour our warriors.

• I do not want to prolong the same old saga but I am afraid it will invariably turned up very soon as the air force and navy starts to look to replace their AUGs. Since they cannot get their ships or planes, their best bet is to flex their muscles in the selection of the replacement of the AUG. So the three-ring circus will come out again.

  BTW, Colt have come out a piston rifle for the military. Its called the M5, what else!!!

• I'd thought that the reason behind producing a rifle domestically for a small nation like Malaysia is not primarily the hope to export it, but rather that in case of war they don't have to depend on imports when needing more rifles? That's the same reason why they try to produce as much other stuff as possible domestically, from soldier's boots to tank ammo.

  I've never shot the M4, but I really regard it as inferior to most other modern rifles after everything I read about it. They really should have opted for another rifle.

• It was the idea but when it comes to our National Interest, implementation and ideas does not work so well, It is the main reason I started Malaysian Defence...

• Even when it comes to ammunition we have very little supply security as we import EVERYTHING from brass cups to primers. Even the UK has no supply security as it buys most of the powder it uses from Holland. Tank ammo? Hah! They machine the bodies but many critical components (fuzes etrc.) are imported and assembled.

  Self Sufficiency has NEVER been anything other than a fig leaf.

  You want to know why we produce our own webbing? To protect our own garment and stitching industry with a hefty 40% excise on all stitched products. ]

  If you haven't shot the M4, then you have no idea how it handles, which is very well. The ergonomics of a AR are excellent. The problem ain't so much the gun as the way they went about procuring it. (Marhalim: All the M16 series handles very well, its pretty darned accurate, apparently it got to do with the direct gas impingement)

  Simon

• Anyone who believes that most (if not all) malaysian military purchase decisions doesn't involve kick backs please raise their hand!
  Hmm... I don't see any.

  Put enough money at the right places, we could just easily end up with G36 or even Sig550 for the whole army.(Marhalim: Due to the M4 price markup it is as expensive as the SIG550 series of rifles, of which the Paskau has bought recentlY)

  We even bought radar that is still in prototype stage.. or so I heard.. heheh