Colt Wins $57M Foreign Military Sales Contract for M4 Carbines

colt, colt m4, colt m4 carbine, colt m4 carbines, m4 carbines, m4 carbine firing — Staff Sgt. Matthew Gluyas, 99th Security Forces Squadron military working dog handler, fires an M4 carbine at a target at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, Sept. 19, 2018. The M4 is now the standard issue firearm for most units in the U.S. military.

colt, colt m4, colt m4 carbine, colt m4 carbines, m4 carbines, m4 carbine competition — U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. John Whitehurst, a rifleman with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 1st Marine Regiment, takes aim with his M4 carbine during a helicopter assault at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug. 21, 2018. The Marines were being observed by Expeditionary Operations Training Group to properly prepare the unit for an upcoming deployment with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

colt, colt m4, colt m4 carbine, colt m4 carbines, m4 carbines, m4a1 carbine — U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Graves fires the M4A1 Carbine at a range during the Army Materiel Command’s Best Warrior Competition July 9-11, 2018, at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. During the three-day competition, Soldiers are tested on basic and advanced warrior tasks and drills, face challenges testing their physical and mental strength.

Iconic gun maker Colt has won an award to supply M4 carbines to overseas militaries.

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Colt M4 Carbines Contract

Under the $57,722,819 contract, Colt will provide up to 10,000 M4 and M4A1 5.56mm carbines to Jordan; Morocco; Afghanistan; Senegal; Tunisia and Pakistan.

This is a firm-fixed-price deal conducted through the Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s Foreign Military Sales program. The blurb on the official program website describes Foreign Military Sales as a “fundamental tool of U.S. foreign policy.” Here’s a quick primer on the program, via a DoD article:

The Foreign Military Sales program is a form of security assistance authorized by the Arms Export Control Act through which the United States may sell defense articles and services to foreign countries and international organizations. Under the program, the U.S. government and a foreign government enter into a sales agreement called a letter of offer and acceptance. The State Department determines which countries will have programs, and the Defense Department executes the program.

Work on this particular contract will be performed at Colt’s West Hartford, Conn. facility. The estimated completion date is Sept. 20, 2019.

Earlier DoD Contract

On July 13, DoD confirmed that Colt, Daniel Defense, FN and Remington had been picked to compete for a contract to supply “5.56mm North Atlantic Treaty Organization commercial off-the-shelf carbines.” A couple of weeks later, Remington revealed it had been given an award to provide carbines to “key international allies.” It seems logical to assume this recent Colt award is also part of that initial DoD announcement from July.