With the arrival and ongoing distribution of the brand-new
5.56 5.56mm R4A3 carbine to all military personnel, the venerable M-16
automatic rifle, which served the country for more than 40 years, will be now
be issued to reserve and militia units.
This was disclosed by Philippine Army (PA) spokesperson Col.
Benjamin Hao Sunday.
He added that distribution to reservist and militia units
will start this 2016 replacing their vintage M-1 and M-14 rifles.
Hao also said that the last 12, 657 R-4 units were delivered
last December.
This is part of the 56,843 R-4 order by the Armed Forces of
the Philippines (AFP). The contract is worth Php1.9 billion.
Of this number, 24, 300 are now distributed to military
units with 19,866 undergoing ballistics tests at the Philippine National
Police.
The R-4 is a gas-operated, magazine-fed, selective fire,
shoulder-fired weapon with a telescoping stock and 14.5 inch (370 mm) barrel to
ease close quarters combat.
It fires the .223 caliber, or 5.56 mm NATO round.
And with the arrival of the R-4 in Philippine military
service, finding spare parts or replacement materials needed to keep this
weapon on the firing line will no longer be a problem as 80 percent of its
parts are similar with the M-16 automatic rifle now gradually being phased out
the Filipino ground units.
This means that both weapons can interchange parts in case
of malfunction or battlefield damage.
This is possible as the R-4 is basically the shortened
version of the venerable M-16 rifle, according to the fact sheet forwarded by
the AFP.
"The R-4 assault rifle is a lighter and shorter variant
of the M-16A2 assault rifle. The two have roughly 80 percent of their parts in
common (and thus) cost efficient," it stressed.
And despite its short length, the M-4 has a point target
range of 500 meters and area target range of 600 meters.
This is greater than the 460 maximum effective range of the
M-16 assault rifle.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=845236
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