Colt awarded contract for foreign production of M4 and M4A1 carbines.

Colt's Manufacturing Co. LLC has been awarded a $41,924,594 firm-fixed-price Foreign Military Sales contract (Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Federated States of Micronesia, Hungary, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macedonia, Marshall Islands, Palau, St. Vincent and Grenadines, and Tunisia)  for production for the M4 and M4A1 carbines.

Albanian special forces soldier firing M4 carbine, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, June 4, 2019 (Picture source: U.S. Army)

One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 18, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (W15QKN-19-D-0116).

The M4 carbine is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is a 5.56×45mm NATO, air-cooled, Stoner expanding gas system (commonly misidentified as direct impingement),[citation needed] gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine. It has a 14.5 in (370 mm) barrel and a telescoping stock. The M4 carbine is extensively used by the United States Armed Forces and is largely replacing the M16 rifle in the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps combat units as the primary infantry weapon and service rifle.

The M4 is also capable of mounting the M203 and M320 grenade launchers. The distinctive step in its barrel is for mounting the M203 with the standard hardware. The M4 has semi-automatic and three-round burst firing modes (like the M16A2 and M16A4), while the M4A1 has semi-automatic and fully automatic firing modes (like the M16A1 and M16A3).