Matthew Clarke

According to Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Clarke, Program Executive Office Soldier program manager for Individual Weapons, the initial lot was so small that each gun was handmade.During testing, about 15,000 rounds were fired through the 200 systems going to the field.

Matthew Clarke, the head of Product Manager Individual Weapons.

The XM8 program is “on track to field initial weapon systems in FY05,†according to Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Clarke, the program manager for Individual Weapons at Picatinny Arsenal.

Matthew Clarke, the head of Product Manager Individual Weapons.

Matthew Clarke, completely off guard.

"Everybody was taken a little bit by surprise," Clarke told Army Times."You never heard wind of that before."At the time, Clarke was one of XM8's key program officials as the head of Product Manager Individual Weapons.

Matthew Clarke, product manager for Product Manager Individual Weapons, who took over the XM29 program in November.
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The XM8's barrels - of varrying length - can be changed at the arms room to meet mission needs, Clarke said.
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"You take the gun out of the box, you zero the optic and you're done," Clarke said.
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But weapons experts now say a soldier using three-round bursts is no more effective than one well-trained in the use of full-automatic fire, Clarke said.

Without that option, Clarke said, designers could leave out the special governor to create the three-round burst, making a simpler design that also would be more reliable.
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"The technology is just not there," said Clarke, explaining that the materials needed to lighten the weapon without losing effectiveness simply are not available.
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Americans are all about curves," Clarke said, describing how they brought in engineers from Porsche and Audi to come up with more streamlined designs.

If the Army does adopt the XM8, as many as 900,000 could be fielded through 2021, Clark said.The XM25 would be fielded in far fewer numbers beginning in 2007, depending on the needs of the Infantry Center, the proponent for the Army's small-arms requirements.

The Army still plans to field about 22,000 XM29s - enough for four per nine-man infantry squad - beginning in 2012.

"When it is all said and done, my contact with the Infantry Center is still to provide them with an XM29," Clarke said.