After years of planning, infantry Marines are finally getting their hands on small arms suppressors aimed at helping combat units avoid detection while firing on enemy positions.
Marine Corps Systems Command began fielding the first 13,700 Knight’s Armament Company suppressors designed for M4 and M4A1 carbines and M27 infantry automatic rifles to Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The command hopes to field approximately 30,000 of the devices by fiscal year 2023.
“We’ve never fielded suppressors at this scale,” Maj. Mike Brisker, weapons product manager in MCSC’s Program Manager for Infantry Weapons, said in a Tuesday release. “This fielding is a big moment for the Marine Corps.”
Task and Purpose first reported the start of fielding this month.
Infantry weapons create an incredible amount of noise on the battlefield, but adding suppressors helps muffle their “audible and visual signature, making it more difficult for the enemy to ascertain their location,” Chief Warrant Officer 4 David Tomlinson, MCSC’s infantry weapons officer, said in the release.
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Reducing the din of battle also significantly improves the ability of small units to communicate with each other during a gunfight, Tomlinson said.
“I would say the most important thing the suppressor does is allow for better inter-squad, inter-platoon communication,” Tomlinson said in the release. “It allows the operators to communicate laterally up and down the line during a firefight.”
In the long run, Marine officials also hope the suppressors will help reduce hearing damage suffered by Marines in combat units.
Read more: Military.com
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