Comments on: Army acquires rights to M4

By: SayUncle » Colt says “nyuh uh”

SayUncle » Colt says “nyuh uh” — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:02:06 +0000

[...] Mentioned before was that the Army had taken over the design rights for the M4. Colt rebuts that statement. [...]

By: Murdoc Online » Friday Linkzookery – 17 Jul 2009

Murdoc Online » Friday Linkzookery – 17 Jul 2009 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:37:51 +0000

[...] Army acquires rights to M4 and More on the M4 Rights Other manufacturers can bid to build M4 carbines for the military. [...]

By: GunPundit » Blog Archive » More on the M4 Rights

GunPundit » Blog Archive » More on the M4 Rights — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:00:38 +0000

[...] other day I noted that the rights to the M4 Cabine had passed to the US Army from Colt, allowing the Army to solicit bids from other manufacturers if it wants to buy [...]

By: Daniel E. Watters

Daniel E. Watters — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:28:10 +0000

One correction: Another source claims that the US Army will only have to pay royalties until December 24, 2037. That is still a mighty long time, and even after that the Army will only be able to second source for governmental purposes.

The companies receiving second source M4 contracts will only be able to use the Colt M4 TDP to supply the US government. Whether or not the US government can then turn around and export these carbines is a matter of the 1967 license agreement and subsequent amendments. Certainly, FN-made M16 are being contracted by the US Army on behalf of the Iraqi military.

The non-disclosure/non-use agreements for accessing the TDP will forbid the other companies from using Colt’s proprietary data for commercial sales. Once their military contract ends, the company will be required to be destroy all of the TDP information provided to them.

The following link provides the US Army’s standard non-disclosure/non-use agreement for contractors accessing the M16 TDP:

https://aais.ria.army.mil/AAIS/Solinfo/Standard_Attachments/Colt-M16_Non_Disclosure_Agreement.doc

By: SayUncle » Army takes over M4

SayUncle » Army takes over M4 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:41:39 +0000

[...] Gunpundit says the army as taken over the rights to it. Guess that means they can get suppliers other than Colt. [...]

By: Colt’s exclusive M4 production right ends | The Firearm Blog

Colt’s exclusive M4 production right ends | The Firearm Blog — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:12:36 +0000

[...] is also a discussion about this at Gun Pundit Related PostsM4 may get tougher barrel, better magsM4 barrel fell offUS Army buying .300 Winchester [...]

By: Chirol

Chirol — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:21:07 +0000

Hopefully the DoD will finally ditch the M4 for something better like the Bushmaster ACR or at the very least the HK416.

By: countertop

countertop — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:49:48 +0000

Wonder what Joe Lieberman will have to say about this.

By: Daniel E. Watters

Daniel E. Watters — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:00:33 +0000

It is a bit of an exaggeration to say the Army has control of the TDP. As of July 1, the Army merely gained limited license rights to use the M4 TDP to second source production, as an extension of the 1967 licensing agreement for the M16. Until the end of calender year 2050, the Army will have to pay 5% in royalties to Colt for every M4 procured from second sources. The TDP will remain Colt proprietary data, and any second source M4 contractor will no doubt be required to sign non-disclosure agreements just as they do for the M16.

This is not the end of Colt’s current .mil contract for the M4. The current contract allows new delivery orders to be placed to the end of calender year 2010. As it now stands, the current delivery orders stretch production out to Spring 2011.

By: GeekLethal

GeekLethal — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:04:53 +0000

I read the “translation” above but I’m not too proud to say I still don’t understand the significance.

It’s confusing to me, because it seems every 2 or 3 years DoD says something about a new rifle competition and everyone gets all spooled up and alot of companies make some pretty interesting weapons and they just buy more M16s anyway.

OK, this one’s carbine length, this year has different handguards, this one has rails, that one has a titanium selector switch or whatever, but to a great extent it’s the same weapon in 2009 as it was in 1969.