The Army Contracting Command-New Jersey (ACC-NJ) has issued a pre-solicitation to the defense industry, on behalf of Project Manager Soldier Weapons (PM-SW), for the request to procure 167,195 M4/M4A1 Carbines to be manufactured exclusively within the United States or its Territories.

The M4/M4A1 carbines provide a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle to the United States Armed Forces. The lightweight assault rifle fires 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition from a 30-round magazine and has semi-automatic and three-round burst firing modes.

To meet this requirement for FY 2020 through 2024 deliveries, the Department of Defense (DoD) intends to award two fixed pricing contracts.

Defense Blog said the "M4 delivers superior performance and accuracy for the joint coalition forces conducting the most challenging combat missions. The performance of M4 has been proven across the world in military operations, including combat actions in Afghanistan and Iraq."

The Army has spent several decades acquiring more than 500,000 M4/M4A1 carbines. The M4 has also been exported to allied forces and NATO countries as part of foreign military sales.

In another development of modernization efforts by the DoD, the Army has contacted defense companies about how to develop prototypes of the Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW), using a particular 6.7mm round. The NGSW in the next several years is expected to replace the M249 squad automatic weapon and M4/M4A1 carbines.

As the war economy marches forward, the DoD is stocking up on M4/M4A1 carbines and even expects to field an NGSW in the near term. This is more evidence that Cold War 2.0 with China and Russia is well underway.