The M-16 and its variants have been a soldier’s companion and lifesaver for almost 50 years. Now the Pentagon is looking to replace the venerable rifle.

The Army has released a pre-solicitation contract request, a Pentagon procedure to determine if anyone is interested in bidding for work on a replacement for the M-4 carbine.

The M-4 is the latest in a line of assault weapons that date back to the M-16, and the Pentagon has purchased some 700,000 of the weapons during the past decade. Based in West Hartford, Conn., Colt Defense produces the M-4, but the decade-long weapons contract is due to expire in 2012.

Mainly used as an urban assault weapon, the Colt M-4 carbine is not without problems, mainly jamming, according to a Congressional Research Service report from June 2010.

Now, the Pentagon has launched the Individual Carbine replacement program. The military expects testing to start sometime at the end of 2011, with a new weapon to be chosen by mid-2013.

Colt, German arms maker Heckler & Koch and North Carolina-based Remington have expressed interest.

This is not the first time a new assault rifle has been sought by the Pentagon. About once every 10 years, the military puts out a request for something better than the M-16. Yet, in the end, the M-16 and its grandchildren continue to be used.

In the 1980s, $300 million was spent developing exotic weapons for the Advanced Combat Weapon Program. These weapons used bullets with no cartridge casings, and one that shot flechettes, military speak for steel darts.

During the 2000s, the Pentagon settled on Heckler & Koch’s XM8 assault rifle, but Congress refused to spend $20 million in early procurement money to buy about 8,000 of the lightweight weapons. The program died in October 2005.

C-130 used in decoy tests

The Air Force and Raytheon Co. have found another use for the C-130 Hercules: Decoy hauler.

Over the Arizona desert last week, two Miniature Air Launched Decoys were dropped off the back of a Hercules cargo plane.

This was the first test of that type of air-launched decoy by the C-130, according to Raytheon.

The air-launched decoy is used to jam enemy defense radars and to mimic other types of aircraft.

For example, a specially-equipped C-130 could be flying into enemy held territory. The decoy would send out signals that a passenger jet is flying in a different direction than the C-130, fooling enemy radars and missiles.

Robins Air Force Base performs upgrades and maintenance on the C-130 and its many variants.

India chucks consideration of Boeing’s Hornet fighter

India has a $35 billion account to buy new weapons, and had been looking to Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet to spend part of its defense money.

No longer. Last week, Indian defense officials said Boeing was out of the running to build new fighters for the nation. The choice is now down to the French Rafale or the Eurofighter, made by a collection of European nations.

Boeing lobbied Congress and India for the deal, which would have included exclusive licensing of advanced radars, avionics and aircraft manufacturing abilities.

India has still been spending money on U.S. defense systems, however.

The nation took delivery on the first of six Marietta-built Lockheed Martin C-130Js in February. That deal is worth $1.2 billion. Also in the works is the $5.8 billion sale of 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III cargo planes.

Fuselage and wing sections of the C-17 are made by Boeing at its 550-person Macon plant. The Air Force has stopped buying the four-engine cargo aircraft, and foreign sales are one way to keep that production line open.

Robins manages upgrade and repair work on the C-17, which has been in Air Force service since 1995.

To contact writer Shelby G. Spires, call 744-4494.