Re:Norden Bombsight (2004)
by PaulHoule on Friday January 11, 2019 @04:11PM
(#18887059)
I got schooled by some veterans one day about the M-16.
It is a common story that the M-16 was a failure in the Vietnam war and that was true. However, it is like the story about the Patriot missiles that missed in the first Gulf War. It gets repeated over and over again (often by the same people.)
The reality is that things change.
The M-16 has performed well post-Vietnam. Some of that is technical fixes, a lot of it is better maintenance by higher quality and better trained soldiers. The government has often looked for a "next generation" weapon to replace the M-16 and nothing has measured up.
It is a common story that the M-16 was a failure in the Vietnam war and that was true. However, it is like the story about the Patriot missiles that missed in the first Gulf War. It gets repeated over and over again (often by the same people.)
The reality is that things change.
The M-16 has performed well post-Vietnam. Some of that is technical fixes, a lot of it is better maintenance by higher quality and better trained soldiers. The government has often looked for a "next generation" weapon to replace the M-16 and nothing has measured up.