M16A4 in the Army

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by Phoenixent

I think the main worry in the region is Iran. With Iraq, and Kuwait having similar equipment and training it will go along way to help them with that problem. The other item that will help them is they will be able to use Iranian ammo if it ever comes to that. The Iranians main rifle in the Chinese CQ which is a copy of the early M16A1's with new style furniture. The Chinese setup a factory to build that weapon in Iran. The CQ was originally built to supply the Philippine insurgents along with they M14 clone but I guess that did not pay as well when they found out the Philippines were Islamic and not Communist.

The thing I worry about is the fact that the Dawa Party (al-Maliki's party) used to be Iranian proxies during the Iran-Iraq War. Not sure I feel comfortable handing billions in American-made weaponry to people like that. But, I guess it was the best we could do.

Does Iran really use the CQ as standard-issue nowadays? I usually see them pictured with AK variants, and I know they manufacture the Type 56 under license. They used to use G3s (also made under license, dating back to the days of the Shah), but I think those have been mostly phased out nowadays.