The marinecorpstimes.com reports the completion of deliveries of the H&K M27 IARs ordered by the US Marine Corps. The last batch of these weapons is already in the Corps's warehouses and is expected to reach the hands of the Marines until the end of 2021.
As a reminder, the marines weapon was based on the H&K 416D, a rifle built for and in cooperation with the Delta Force. Around the year 2000, the USMC began working on the concept of replacing their M249 SAW with automatic rifles to increase mobility and precision of fire. The weapon was first used by the Marines in Afghanistan in 2011.
An interesting fact is that the M27 IAR was issued only to regular USMC branches and not to special forces units such as the MARSOC. According to Marine Raiders, M249 SAWs still provide more fire intensity than IARs, while giving operators the option of quickly replacing the barrel for a shorter or longer one, depending on the mission's needs.
Sources: marinecorpstimes.com, levelzeroheroes.com, sadefensejournal.com, hecklerandkoch.com, accurateshooter.net, mantadefense.com,
