The Armed Forces of the Philippines or AFP gave to the Army and Marines are given new “wives” as they received new M4 assault rifles for security operations.

The new rifles are distributed on Thursday in Camp Aguinaldo at a ceremony that led by President Aquino. Newly acquired M4 rifles will lead to the soldiers to divorce their M16 that as old as Vietnam War that was last recorded the rifles from 1974 to 1978.

In interview with Armed Forces Chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr., he said “I think our troops’ morale will become high because these (rifles) serve as their spouses when they are in combat.”

He also added “It really makes a difference if you are confident and then you have a good firearm and you are also competent. If you combine all these, you are assured that you can fight whatever enemy you will confront.”

The government has acquired exactly 50, 629 units of M4 rifles from the most trusted American firearm manufacturer the Remington Outdoor Company. The approved budget for the new rifles is P 3.3 Billion but they can pay more than 50k units of rifles to P1.9 Billion. The officials said the 44, 186 rifles would be given to the army and the remaining rifles will be distributed to the Philippine Marines.

For the comparison of the two rifles, the newly-acquired rifle is lighter than to M16, although 80% of their parts are in common but in terms in accuracy and power of new rifles is very different, it is more cost efficient and useful to the close combat.

The General said in interview, through good governance these rifles can be possible.