The Philippine Army is now ready to distribute some of its new but repaired M4 Remington rifles.
The rifles were presented to the media on Thursday to show that the rear sights of the rifles, which were said to be defective, are already working perfectly.
There are about 44,186 rifles from the US-based manufacturer Remington for the Army and 24,300 are ready for distribution, said Army spokesperson Col. Benjamin Hao.
The remaining 19,866 rifles are already repaired but have yet to go ballistic tests and will also be distributed once finished.
READ: Defective Army M4 rifles corrected, ready for re-issuance – AFP
“We are complying with the requirements ng aming modernization program, the revised AFP modernization program…Hopefully next year makita niyo na ‘yung mga changes ng ating equipment, at pagbabagong ginagawa ng AFP,” Hao said.
(We are complying the requirement of our modernization program, the AFP modernization program. Hopefully, next year, you will already see the changes in our equipment, and the changes being implemented in the AFP.)
The spokesperson admitted that because of the defects, the distribution of the rifles has been delayed.
President Benigno Aquino III even led the ceremonial distribution of the rifles in August last year.
Soldiers from the Philippine Army test the brand new repaired M4 rifles from US-based manufacturer Remington. About 44,000 rifles were corrected because of its rear sight problems.
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At that time of the distribution, the rifles did not pass the final inspection of the Technical Inspection and Acceptance Committee (TIAC). The rear sight problems needed to be corrected because it was unstable.
“We are happy very happy when the President gave us these firearms. Nu’ng may corrections (when there were corrections), we asked for corrections and the supplier corrected it,” Hao said.
All the rifles have been corrected and accepted as of August 13. The repair was at no cost of the government.
The acquisition of the firearms is part of the Joint Philippine Army-Philippine Marine Corps Assault Rifle Acquisition Project by the government.
Aside from the estimated 44,000 rifles delivered for the Army, 6,443 rifles have been allotted for the Philippine Marines. These units had no defects because it did not need a rear sight. Most of the rifles are still stored at Camp Aguinaldo while about 1,000 are already with the Marines.
The project is worth P1.9 billion and they are waiting for about 12,000 more units, Hao said.
The rifles are supposedly seen to replace the standard M16 rifles.
Private First Class Larry Baui, said the M4 rifles are easier to use and are more flexible due to its smaller size compared to the M16 rifles which are longer.
However, M16 rifles are “proven and tested,” he said.
“Mas masaya gawa ng mas lalo namin magagampanan ang tungkulin namin (We are happy because we can perform our duty better),” Baui said when asked how he felt of the new firearms. Frances Mangosing/IDL