Colt contracted for M4, M4A1 rifles for foreign military sales

Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Colt's Manufacturing Co. has received a $57.7 million foreign military sales contract for up to 10,000 M4 and M4A1 5.56mm carbine rifles.

The rifles are for delivery to Jordan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Senegal, Tunisia and Pakistan under the U.S. government's foreign military sales program.

Work on the contract, announced Thursday by the Department of Defense, will be performed in West Hartford, Conn., and is expected to be completed in September 2019. Fiscal 2018 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $57.7 million were obligated at the time of award.

The M4 carbine is a standard-issue weapon in use by the U.S. military, as well as many other nations. It is capable of single-shot and three-round burst operation and is typically loaded by NATO standard STANAG 30-round magazines.

The M4 is able to mount a variety of accessories such as optics, thermal sights, bipods, foregrips and lasers. It has faced criticism from users for easily jamming in dirty environments and lack of stopping power. Others have said it's light weight and accuracy made it an effective weapon as long as it was well maintained.

The M4A1 version of the weapon, employed by U.S. Special Forces and other units, is capable of semi-automatic and fully automatic modes, but is otherwise identical to the standard M4.