"Air Force explosive ordnance disposal technicians are taking a new gun with them outside the wire in Afghanistan.

Airmen with the 466th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight, Operating Location Delta, operating in Helmand province, last month began carrying the Mk14 enhanced battle rifles with larger 7.62-millimeter rounds than the normal M4’s 5.56-millimeter round. The new rifles were necessary because the M4 carbines were not accurate enough to reach insurgents firing from a distance, according to an Air Force release.

“It’s simple math — the enemy was engaging us at distances from which we couldn’t effectively return fire,” said Capt. Brandon Goebel, the 466th executive officer, in the release.

The airmen were able to acquire four of the Mk14 EBRs on loan from Navy EOD Mobile Unit 11, a deployed group of sailors who have faced similar threats while they waited for their versions to arrive. They received training from an Air Force instructor and carry one of the rifles with each dismount team.

“Within one week of receiving the rifles, we had them out with the teams,” said Goebel, who added one team “was engaged at distance” and returned “effective” fire that ended the exchange.

Carrying the new weapon is important for safety in the open terrain of Helmand province where the airmen face a heightened risk of fire from further distances, Delta EOD Master Sgt. Manuel Herrera, the team leader, said in the release.

“We keep referring back to how we’ve evolved as an EOD team on the battlefield and one thing we don’t want to become is a liability,” he said. “We don’t want to always have someone protecting us, and with this weapon we have been able to ensure that.”  "


AF EOD Teams Get Enhanced Battle Rifles


Alrighty then.

Should have just issued them SCAR 17 Heavies like the rest of SOCOM. Better rifle for what they need it for.

I'm a huge fan of the M14, but one must why the MK14 rather than a KAC Mark 11 or another AR .308 variant?

Good stuff. Give our troops they tools they need to do their job.

Because military procurement is more fucked than a five dollar crackwhore on payday.

Yep. As a way around that, the M14s are already in the inventory SOMEWHERE, so it's much easier to break out a not-perfect-but-will-sorta-work solution and massage it a little than to go after the much better but not yet in the inventory solution.

Good thing they destroyed all those M14s back in the day.

get some

My thoughts as well.

I would think that it would be no more difficult to order rifles than it would be to order EBR stocks and requisition armory time, but then again, I remember how SNAFU  it was for us to get e replacement .50 cal mount

Deploy a mortar team with them.  Rain in death and destruction on them.

Because it was "in stock"

Are those really any more accurate than an M4?

The Air Force is just figuring this out? My brother is Marine Eod currently in Afganistan and has carried an M14 his last two tours.

Think distance.

A new stock is just a part, but a new rifle? That's an entire new system, like buying a new helicopter.

Give a guy a different rifle with a scope and a nice trigger and he will fancy himself a sniper.  Give him his standard rifle with a scope and a nice trigger and he sticks to his self imposed limitations.

That rifle is a perfect example of failed procurement.

An old, outdated system with virtually no spare parts in inventory or armorer support that the end users don't know how to run and don't have the tools to maintain...

Now add parts costing more than buying a new rifle...

Now add ammo issues that have resulted in bent op rods as some versions of the 7.62 match are too hot for the m-14 at high temps...

Now add an optic that frankly isn't all that great and has the wrong BDC knobs...

Oh, and good luck finding magazines and mag pouches.

What a pain in the ass.  For what they spent on this program, they could have just bought MK 11s for every Designated Marksman.

They weren't really in stock.

They still had to procure optics, stocks, mags, parts, train armorers, test and eval the system...

It wasn't cheaper or faster to go with the M-14 and it wasn't what the end users requested.

This thread is easy to fap to.  

The gnashing of teeth should follow a predictable pattern.

Well, I suppose if they're happy with them



I'd be none to happy getting handed any variant of the M14.