Besides, the M9 is made in the USA! As is the FN M16 rifle and, I believe, the M249 SAW as well! Why do you think HK is building a factory here? It'll happen, denial isn't going to stop it from happening.
There is the whole issue, one is built in America, the other is kits being sent over to be assembled from foriegn parts. Read my previous posts, FN's are made here, the tooling, engineering and production is in the US.
And this is a big contract, it is going to be in the 10 million dollar mark or better initially, with the upside to 1 billion later, is not a small item procurement.
The one thing this thread has galvanised me on, I am drafting a letter to my Congressman on this.
If this is the future weapon system of the ARMY they need to be made here, not Germany.
And no this is not a attempt to protect Colt. If they loose their military contracts oh well, all is fair in military contracting. We have other manufacturers in the US, or if HK's wants this contract so badly they can invest up front to build a factory in the USA, not a assembly facility with less than 100 jobs.
Hk wants this so badly because Europe doesn't invest in their own defense and they know these rifles will flop if they need to rely on there domestic contracts.
They only thing that could make this stink more is if HK was a French company, that would be adding insult to injury.