The Heckler & Koch HK416 is a rifle designed and manufactured by Heckler &

Koch. Although its design is based on the AR-15class of weapons, specifically the
Colt M4 carbine family issued to the U.S. military, it uses a proprietary short-stroke
gas piston system derived from the ArmaLite AR-18 (the same system was also
used in Heckler & Koch's earlier G36 family of rifles). It is the standard assault rifle of
the Norwegian Armed Forces, selected by the French Armed Forces to replace
the FAMAS, and was the weapon used by SEAL Team Six to kill Osama Bin
Laden in 2011.[2][3]

Contents

 1History
 2Design
 3Evaluation
o 3.1HK416A5
o 3.2Variants
o 3.3Civilian version
 4Users
 5See also
 6References
 7External links

History[edit]
The United States Army's Delta Force, at the request of R&D NCO Larry Vickers,
collaborated with the German arms maker Heckler & Koch to develop the new
carbine in the early 1990s.[when?] During development, Heckler & Koch capitalized on
experience gained developing the Bundeswehr's Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle,
the U.S. Army's XM8 rifle project (cancelled in 2005) and the modernization of
the British Armed Forces SA80 small arms family.[citation needed] The project was originally
called the Heckler & Koch M4, but this was changed in response to a trademark
infringement suit filed by Colt Defense.
Delta Force replaced its M4s with the HK416 in 2004, after tests revealed that the
piston operating system significantly reduces malfunctions while increasing the life of
parts.[4][dead link] The HK416 has been tested by the United States military and is in use
with some law enforcement agencies. It has been adopted as the standard rifle of
the Norwegian Armed Forces (2008) and the French Armed Forces (2017) and is
used by many special operations units worldwide.
A modified variant underwent testing by the United States Marine Corps as the M27
Infantry Automatic Rifle. After the Marine Corps Operational Test & Evaluation
Activity supervised a round of testing at MCAGCC Twentynine Palms, Fort McCoy,
and Camp Shelby (for dust, cold-weather, and hot-weather conditions, respectively).
As of March 2012, fielding of 452 IARs has been completed of 4,748 ordered. Five
infantry battalions: 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and 2nd Battalion,
4th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.; First Battalion, 3rd Marines, out of
Marine Corps Base Hawaii; 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.;
and 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, out of Fort Devens, Mass. have deployed the
weapon.[5][6] In December 2017, the Marine Corps revealed a decision to equip every
Marine in an infantry squad with the M27.[7]