The decision of the Georgian Armed Forces to completely abandon the Kalashnikovs in favor of the product of Colt Firearms Company was announced on the eve of the Saakashvili’s inauguration. The Georgian leader who is famous for his devotion to dramatic gestures, personally participated in the presentation of new weapons and arms that have been delivered on January 18 to the largest military base in Georgia, Gori.
In from of numerous TV cameras Sakashvili handed over to several soldiers the new American M4’s that will completely replace the Soviet/Russian Kalashnikovs used as main firearms in the Georgian Army since the date of its foundation.
"We start completely transferring to the Western, its means, the best weapons. Today, the M4 is the best submachine gun worldwide. Our armed forces received new armored vehicles and artillery guns that meet the NATO standards. Step-by-step we are going to transfer also our Air Forces to the Western standards”, Saakashvili said. He also boasted that the Georgian Armed Forces are the first in the countries of the former USSR to perform complete re-equipment in such scale and in such short time.
Chief of the Georgian General Staff Zaza Ghygava attending the ceremony fully supported the decision of his chief and said to journalists the M4 carbine (according to the US nomenclature) “has a higher kill power and accuracy… it is easier and more convenient” versus the Kalashnikov.
Such statements of the Georgian officials evoke am amazement in the community of independent military experts. It is well known that the M4 carbine being in general a rather effective weapon may hardly lay claim to be “the best world” firearm in its class that is also recognized in the USA.
The 5.56-mm M4 carbine is a modified version of the famous M16 automatic rifle. From 1994 it is used in the US Army and armed forces of about thirty countries – allies or satellites of the USA. By the way, it is a political orientation but not a quality of firearms that determined a weapon choice of one or another country to provide its armed forces with the Soviet or American arms since the time of the Cold War.
As for the M4, according to experts, in spite of certain upgrades this rifle inherited many shortcomings of its predecessor, the M16, first of all relating to the operating reliability in severe climatic and weather conditions. It is well-known that the American firearms are extremely sensitive to the dirt, sand and dust, and experience frequent jams in firing.
According to an American study of the M4 performance in Afghanistan conducted in 2002, 48 per cent of servicemen complained about various problems relating to failures in firing due to its poorly engineered cartridge-feed mechanism and design of the magazine, 34 per cent complained of shaking and overheating of the barrel guard in firing, and 15 per cent complained about the use of the reflector sight.
Besides, 55 per cent of servicemen believe that the M4 is too heavy, 20 per cent believe that the M4 is not adequately simple in field maintenance, 35 per cent buy at their own expense barber’s brushes and toothpicks to clean the carbine more effectively. The combat experience also showed that the M4 in general is effective at long distances but not at medium distances and in close combat.
According to the American press, in autumn 2007 the M4 underwent a competitive test in the Aberdeen range, USA, in the conditions of “a sand storm”. The competitors of the M4 were the XM8 carbine (German Heckler&Koch), FNH SCAR rifle (Belgian FN Herstal) and HK416 carbine (German Heckler&Koch). Ten guns of each type were used in the test. 6000 cartridges were fired per barrel. Finally, the M4 experienced 882 jams, in 19 cases the services of a skilled gunmaker were required. To compare, the XM8 experienced 226 jams, the FNH SCAR – 226 and the HK418 – 233.
It is logical that certain US allies (Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, etc.) prefer to use indigenous firearms or firearms made in the European countries, e.g. in Austria. As for the Kalashnikov, this weapon is a commonly recognized king of the class in terms of its aggregated combat and service qualities. Due to its simple design, extraordinary reliability and easy maintenance the Kalashnikov became the most popular weapon worldwide (more than 100 millions of its different modifications are in use). The Kalashnikov is used in 50 countries. It is still in great demand. Recently Venezuela concluded with Russia a contract on supply of 100 thousand Kalashnikovs AK-103 and plans to build a factory to manufacture the Kalashnikov guns and cartridges for them in its own territory.
According to certain US experts, there will be no better firearm than the Kalashnikov worldwide before 2025. In seems that this opinion is shared by the American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US press repeatedly reports that many US servicemen in these countries when the first occasion offers, acquire the Kalashnikovs, which they consider just a perfect gun to survive in the local conditions. US journalists say that in spite of the ban of their commanders certain soldiers prefer to take the Kalashnikovs to the field but hide them during inspections.
However, the aforesaid facts are either unknown to the Georgian president and ministry of defense or they prefer to blench at them. Because the most important for the current regime of Tbilisi is to express every minute its loyalty to the USA and NATO , demonstrate its “hard-shell” orientation to the West, and abuse everything Soviet or Russian even the Kalashnikov. By the way, the Georgian militaries are hardly thankful to their government for it. They probably know the truth about “the best submachine gun in the world”.
Surely, the Colt worship as an extra symbol of adulation expressed by Saakashvili and Co to the Western patrons would look ridiculous and bat-eyed, if it were not related with something more serious: the bellicose policy of the Tbilisi regime towards total militarization of Georgia.
Everybody knows that the current Georgian authorities did not abandon the option “to restore the territorial integrity” by force, they in fact menace new war to Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia, and regularly perform provocative actions against Russian peacekeepers. It is hardly possible to implement the idea of “the unification” by force without massive military assistance of the USA and other Western countries that provide Tbilisi with loans and supply up-to-date offensive weapons to Georgia.
For instance, in 2008, the Georgian government will provide 64 million Lari (about 32 million Dollars) for upgrade of 160 Georgian tanks by using the Western military technologies. As a result, the largest tank fleet in the South Caucasus within one year of the upgrade will become the most up-to-date one in the region. Where will these tanks move? Meanwhile, the plans of Saakashvili include also upgrade of strike aircraft and warships, etc.
Eventually, it is not so important what carbines will be used by the Georgian troops. If they start firing it will not bring anything good both to Georgia, to its neighbors and to the entire Caucasus.
