Grendelizer
Member
Quote from XM8 article:
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While the project manager emphasizes a lot of scrutiny remains before the XM8 could become the new generation assault rifle, he's confident the evaluations will be positive.
That confidence stems from H & K's initial test against an assault rifle system similar to the one being used in the MX8. Testers fired several hundred thousand rounds through a variety of different weapons. For instance, they took 10 weapons and fired 10,000 out of each weapon without cleaning them. Of the ten weapons tested there was only one mechanical failure. Additionally, the weapons' accuracy shifted less than 5 percent from factory specifications.
Firing 10,000 rounds each from 10 XM8 weapons without cleaning them resulted in only one mechanical failure. "Such a firing would wear out the weapons currently in our inventory," Clarke said.
The Test and Evaluation Command will use two types of testing -- developmental and operational -- to ascertain the XM8s viability.
Developmental testing is similar to what Consumer Reports magazine would do, Clarke explained.
"We will super-cool the weapon. We will fire it to failure to see what breaks," Clarke explained. "We'll drop it, we'll put chemicals on it to see how it reacts. That will provide the hard data to build a case for reliability, availability and maintainability, or not."
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When I read this, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Finally someone willing to rigorously, scientifically test a weapon. This is exactly what I advocated during the XM8 vs. M16 debate; that is, that someone take 10 factory M16s and shoot them until they drop and develop some MRBF data.
I'm old enough to realize that political considerations could still screw up objective testing of the XM8 (reference the Stryker armored car vs. M113 Gavin debate), but if this article is true, it's a good sign that they know what they're doing.
John
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While the project manager emphasizes a lot of scrutiny remains before the XM8 could become the new generation assault rifle, he's confident the evaluations will be positive.
That confidence stems from H & K's initial test against an assault rifle system similar to the one being used in the MX8. Testers fired several hundred thousand rounds through a variety of different weapons. For instance, they took 10 weapons and fired 10,000 out of each weapon without cleaning them. Of the ten weapons tested there was only one mechanical failure. Additionally, the weapons' accuracy shifted less than 5 percent from factory specifications.
Firing 10,000 rounds each from 10 XM8 weapons without cleaning them resulted in only one mechanical failure. "Such a firing would wear out the weapons currently in our inventory," Clarke said.
The Test and Evaluation Command will use two types of testing -- developmental and operational -- to ascertain the XM8s viability.
Developmental testing is similar to what Consumer Reports magazine would do, Clarke explained.
"We will super-cool the weapon. We will fire it to failure to see what breaks," Clarke explained. "We'll drop it, we'll put chemicals on it to see how it reacts. That will provide the hard data to build a case for reliability, availability and maintainability, or not."
=======
When I read this, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Finally someone willing to rigorously, scientifically test a weapon. This is exactly what I advocated during the XM8 vs. M16 debate; that is, that someone take 10 factory M16s and shoot them until they drop and develop some MRBF data.
I'm old enough to realize that political considerations could still screw up objective testing of the XM8 (reference the Stryker armored car vs. M113 Gavin debate), but if this article is true, it's a good sign that they know what they're doing.
John
