The U.S. Air Force follows in the footsteps of the U.S. Marine Corps in adopting the polymer magazine from Magpul Industries. Last July 2017, they put out a guideline that all magazines for the M16 and M14 rifles, including the Enhanced Perfomance Magazine (EPM) from the U.S. Army, will be replaced by the Magpul PMAG.
Soldier Systems have provided a link where to find the document, but took a screenshot regarding the replacement of the magazines as shown in the image below so you don’t have to scroll down looking for the entry:
They also got a statement from Magpul on this development:
“We are certainly pleased that another major service component has taken their own look at the test data and come to the same conclusion as the Marine Corps and USSOCOM. Given the body of existing data, the extensive fielding history since 2013, and the current experiences of the USMC after their adoption, we hope that Army leadership can put aside their concerns over the viability of their own magazine program and give soldiers the reliability advantage that is enjoyed by the USMC, USSOCOM, and now, the USAF, with the GEN M3 PMAG.”
According to The Firearm Blog, the Gen M3 PMAG beat the Army’s EPM in a weapon reliability test conducted by the USMC in a leaked report. The U.S. Marines have already authorized the use of PMAG for the M27 IAR as well as the M4 and M16 rifles in use in the Corps.
While the major branches of the U.S. military are slow to adopt the PMAG, the U.S. Special Operations community has been using the PMAGs ten years ago. But of course, the acquisition process for the bigger branches grinds slowly as compared to the SOCOM.
The next question is, when will the U.S. Army follow suit, officially?