From what I read in the newspaper, the Iraqi's were ordered not to bother with mounting an air to air defence when the Americans entered Iraq. I guess most thought there wasn't much point in wasting any aircraft or pilots. And it was a fair assumption considering the power of the USAF.

Cool pictures I found it interesting that not really any of those pics show people with the standard Australian service rifle. They all seem to have M-4s with M203 grenade launchers.

The Steyr was standard issue is Australia right?

Is it just the Australian SF that prefer to go with the M-4 or something?

Yeah the Steyr is the standard weapon of the Aussie ( not sure about Newzealand ) Armed forces. Seems like the M4 is popular with a lot of SF around the World. I know British SAS and the Aussie SAS use that weapon as it has a proven track record, its light compared to a lot of other Rifles and i suspect its easy to maintain as well.

Thats saying alot about the M-4 if those countries Special Forces use the gun. Just like the MP-5 I guess many countries SFs use that as the CQC weapon of choice.

People can argue what guns are the best but I guess all you have to do is look at what a majority of the pros use to find the real answer.

[edit on 14-2-2005 by ShadowXIX]

The resaon the M4 is used by our commandos and SAS is because it was found to be more reliable than the Steyr. In East Timor there were about 30 accidental discharges from Steyr rifles.

Originally posted by D
From what I read in the newspaper, the Iraqi's were ordered not to bother with mounting an air to air defence when the Americans entered Iraq. I guess most thought there wasn't much point in wasting any aircraft or pilots. And it was a fair assumption considering the power of the USAF.

I guess that just shows that Iraqi military leaders were planning on the post war insurgency to defeat the USA and its allies. The Iraqis army was fighting a delaying action to ensure the insurgency was organized to face the Americans in post war Iraq.

Mayabe the Iraqis should have spend more time training and getting aircraft operational instead of waging a war of rhetoric . Mind you thinking was encourged by saddams regime.
If Iraq had possessed chemical weapons they may have used aircraft as a delivery system.

Should a miracle happen and Iraq becomes a stable democracy an air force will be needed to defend the country against its nutty neighbors. The new Iraqi air force woudnt be built overnight but how about some C130s to transport Iraqi sercuity forces?
Of course airbases and other instalations need to be built at the american tax payers expense.

Originally posted by rogue1
The resaon the M4 is used by our commandos and SAS is because it was found to be more reliable than the Steyr. In East Timor there were about 30 accidental discharges from Steyr rifles.

Heard about quite a few of those incidents. Also I'm guessing maybe reloading might be a bit quicker with an M4? Especially when prone. Might not be, but it might be another factor.

The steyr is also quite expensive compared to the M4, and attachments are also harder to come by and more expensive.

According to the defence people, the choice of the M4 over the steyr isn't based on any issues with the reliability of the steyr, but they could be just saying that to reassure the regular troops.

4RAR (commando regiment) and the SASR use the M4 as their assault rifle.

I still prefer the FN/FAL

Yeah, the SR-47 is a piece of work aint it? Just goes to show that when you listen to the pro's you can get a weapon like the Stoner, i always thought the 5.56 round was a waste of time and money. I have yet to meet a Soldier who like that round who has been in a War zone, im sure someone likes it but im yet to meet him/her.