Army advances new carbine offering

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BALTIMORE, May 4 (UPI) -- A new rifle built upon the M4 and M16 platform is being eyed by the U.S. Army as a possible replacement for the M4 carbine.

The rifle, which has advanced to Phase II of the Army's Individual Carbine competition, is the Brown Enhanced Automatic Rifle by ADCOR Defense of Maryland.

The B.E.A.R features a free floating barrel, a revolutionary gas piston system, an exclusive port dust wiper with cover, an ambidextrous forward placed charging handle, and an innovative key-locked rigid rail system. It is also designed to prevent jamming in dusty or sandy conditions.

"ADCOR is extremely pleased with the Army's decision," said ADCOR President Jimmy Stavrakis. "We are confident that the B.E.A.R. will significantly improve the reliability, accuracy and lethality of the existing soldier weapon.

"Our soldiers deserve the highest quality equipment that modern technology can provide and the B.E.A.R. will provide just that."

ADCOR said the military evaluated the weapon's hardwire attributes, the company's production capacity and the company's cost-price proposal in making the decision to select the rifle for the next stage of the acquisition process.