By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent
A NEW battle rifle—the Remington R4—has arrived replacing the Vietnam-era M16A2 and M14 rifles of the soldiers of Army’s 4th Infantry Division.
The division’s chief of staff, Col. Eric Vinoya, said more than 2,800 Remington R4 rifles replaced the aging firearms of the 10,000-strong 4th ID based in Camp Edilberto Evangelista here.
He said the arrival of the rifles—part of the Armed Forces’ modernization program—is timely considering the New People’s Army rebels are now mostly armed with the AK 47 which fires the powerful 7.62 cartridge.
“This rifle is much better than the AK-47. Much lighter and fires a powerful 5.56 cartridge,” 4ID spokesperson Capt. Patrick Martinez said.
The rifle which is a lighter and shorter variant of the M16 A2,was presented to government officials and the media during a ceremony in Camp Evangelista Tuesday afternoon.
Aside from the rifles, 40 man-pack Harris radio sets RF-5800 and 119 portable Harris RF-5800U is presented to the officials and the media.
Vinoya said the radio sets will replace the aging Vietnam-era PRC-77 which earned the monicker “pito pito” among soldiers and the SS URC 187 radio set.
The man-pack Harris radio sets RF-5800 cost P1.4 million each while the portable Harris RF-5800U cost P300 thousand each.
The AFP bought 63,000 rifles from American gun manufacturer Remington for P 2.4 billion. More than 40,000 rifles are now delivered to Army and Philippine Marine units nationwide.
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