Quote:
Originally Posted by Excalibur
I mean, the reason why the 203 was invented was because they dont have a guy that specifically a grenade specialist, so why would anyone want to carry just this huge heavy piece of shit?
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Actually, the M203 was invented as part of the SPIW project to be part of a
different huge heavy piece of shit; it was part of AAI's proposal and was originally rejected for being too simple. It was basically the only remotely practical thing that came out of the entire project.
The general idea of the OICW doesn't seem to have been to replace the M203 as issue weapon; while originally the idea was for every soldier to carry one, with later concepts the idea seems to have been for a few soldiers in the squad to have them and the rest more standard rifles, presumably still with the M203 or more likely the M320. The result would probably have been similar to a designated marksman increasing the squad's effective range or an automatic rifleman increasing their firepower; you don't take away the ability for the rest of the squad to fire bullets, you just have one guy who can do it better in a specific way.
And obviously, the plan was that it
not be huge and heavy, that's why it was cancelled when it became clear that it would be for the forseeable future.