<P> The benefits of this, however, have come under scrutiny from both the military and civilian firearms community . According to a PDF detailing the M4 Carbine improvement plans released by PEO Soldier, the direct impingement system would be replaced only after reviews were done comparing the direct impingement system to commercial gas piston operating system to find out and use the best available operating system in the U.S. Army's improved M4A1 . </P> <P> In September 2010, the Army announced it would buy 12,000 M4A1s from Colt Firearms by the end of 2010, and would order 25,000 more M4A1s by early 2011 . The service branch planned to buy 12,000 M4A1 conversion kits in early 2011 . In late 2011, the Army bought 65,000 more conversion kits . From there the Army had to decide if it would upgrade all of its M4s . </P> <P> On 21 April 2012, the U.S. Army announced to begin purchasing over 120,000 M4A1 carbines to start reequipping front line units from the original M4 to the new M4A1 version . The first 24,000 were to be made by Remington Arms Company . Remington was to produce the M4A1s from mid-2013 to mid-2014 . After completion of that contract, it was to be between Colt and Remington to produce over 100,000 more M4A1s for the U.S. Army . Because of efforts from Colt to sue the Army to force them not to use Remington to produce M4s, the Army reworked the original solicitation for new M4A1s to avoid legal issues from Colt . On 16 November 2012, Colt's protest of Remington receiving the M4A1 production contract was dismissed . Instead of the contract being re-awarded to Remington, the Army awarded the contract for 120,000 M4A1 carbines worth $77 million to FN Herstal on 22 February 2013 . The order is expected to be completed by 2018 . </P> <P> The M4 product improvement program (PIP) is the effort by the U.S. Army to modernize its inventory of M4 service rifles . Phase I consists of converting and replacing regular M4s with the M4A1 version . This variant of the rifle is fully automatic and has a heavier barrel, and is given ambidextrous fire controls . Phase II of the PIP explored developing a new bolt carrier . 11 designs were submitted . The competition was scheduled to conclude in summer 2013, but ended in April 2012 . Over six months of testing revealed that the current bolt carrier assembly outperformed the competing designs, especially in the areas of reliability, durability, and high - temp and low - temp tests . Phase II also includes a competition for a free - floating forward rail assembly . The Army may award contracts to up to three finalists in early 2013, with the selection of a final winner in early 2014 . If the Army determines that the winning rail system should be procured, delivery of new rail is anticipated by the summer of 2014 . </P>

Who has the military contract for the m4