U.S. Marine infantry deploying to the Indo-Pacific starting 2021 will likely be the first close combat troops in the U.S. military equipped with flash and sound suppressors (or silencers) for their 5.56 mm automatic rifles.
In December, the Marines began fielding the first of 30,000 suppressors to their infantry, reconnaissance and special operations units. The suppressors from the Knight's Armament Company will equip the grunt's M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles, M4 carbines, and M4A1 Close Quarter Battle rifles.
"Our intent is to posture our Marines with capability now in order to improve the lethality of our Marine Corps Close Combat Forces," said MARCORSYSCOM spokesman Many Pacheco.
Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM) began deploying the first 13,700 Knight's 5.56mm QDC suppressors designed for the M4 and M4A1, and M27 IARs to Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The Marines hope to field 30,000 suppressors by fiscal year 2023.
"We've never fielded suppressors at this scale," said Maj. Mike Brisker, weapons product manager in MARCORSYSCOM's Program Manager for Infantry Weapons. "This fielding is a big moment for the Marine Corps."
Automatic rifles and machine guns create an indescribable amount of ear-damaging and painful noise on the battlefield, as well as making communications between soldiers and their leaders more difficult.
Adding suppressors to these infantry weapons help muffle their "audible and visual signature, making it more difficult for the enemy to ascertain their location.
"I would say the most important thing the suppressor does is allow for better inter-squad, inter-platoon communication," said a Marine officer. "It allows the operators to communicate laterally up and down the line during a firefight."
Marine officers also hope the suppressors will help reduce hearing damage suffered by Marines in combat units.
In 2016, the Marines began experiments that saw several units from the 2nd Marine Division apply suppressors to every element of an infantry battalion from the M4 to the M2 .50 caliber machine gun.
In May 2017, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division assigned to defend Norway from an invasion by Russia became the first infantry unit in either the Marines or the U.S. Army to have all their M4 carbines equipped with silencers, which are also called sound suppressors.
Two other Marine companies -- both deployed to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina -- were also issued "SureFire" suppressors as part of the evaluation phase.
Bravo Company arrived in Norway in January 2017 with silencers for all their M4 carbines. The men of Bravo Company, who have been testing the silencers in field exercises in arctic conditions for three months, are unanimous in their liking for the silencers.
