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The U.S. Marines Want A Battalion Equipped With Silencers

Logan

I am back again with another story about the U.S. Marines who are always looking for ways to better combat effectiveness. From weapons to tactics, the U.S. Marines are always working hard to better themselves through innovation and constant training. Being the first to hit the beaches or to arrive at a hotspot to keep the peace, the Marines need to be on top of their game.

Now, they are looking into noise reduction. In a recent report at Military.com, the 2nd Marine Division is putting silencers on every weapon in an infantry battalion, from their M4 assault rifles to their support weapons that can take in a suppressor for a series of experiments. Major General John Love, the commanding officer of the 2nd Marine Division explains what they have found out so far:

"What we've found so far is it revolutionizes the way we fight," Love told Military.com. "It used to be a squad would be dispersed out over maybe 100 yards, so the squad leader couldn't really communicate with the members at the far end because of all the noise of the weapons. Now they can actually just communicate, and be able to command and control and effectively direct those fires."

The benefits of reduced noise are much obvious --- easier communication, lesser sound distractions, and the ability of the marines to focus on their fire as the sound distraction is minimized. There is also a another  benefit, as the hearing impairment threats get reduced. Since they need to make sure that they are shooting effectively under a less noisy firing environment, the Marines will need to look out to see the effect on the enemy and thus, pushing them to shoot better.

The weapons that will have suppressors include the M4 assault rifles, the M27 IARs, and they are working on equipping the M249 and M240G support weapons with suppressors from the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command. Also, another goal is finding a suppressor for the .50 heavy caliber machine gun.

U.S. Marine Corps Photo, by Sarah N. Petrock

With the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab to collect and aggregate data with the 2nd Marine Division to determine if it will be a good investment to go all in with suppressors, it is just a matter of costs. Adding such equipment will mean additional costs and according to the report that it will cost almost US$700,000 to equip an infantry battalion and not forgetting that these will also require time for cleaning and maintenance.

Will we see a whole Marine Corps equipped with suppressors? It is still early to say depending on the outcome of the experiments. But the benefits are really obvious that it just a matter of developing tactics with more units equipped with cans. A big silent group of marines would surely be a big surprise for the enemy.

Top photo by Joseph Scanlan, U.S.M.C.

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