The Colt CZ Group announced last Friday that it has been tapped to provide the Canadian military with as many as 65,000 new rifles under a multi-year contract. 

Colt is the winner of the Canadian Modular Rifle, or CMAR, program, to replace the current C7/C8 service rifle fleet, which has been in service for more than 35 years in the land of the Blue Jays and silver medalist Olympic hockey teams. The contract is valued at CAD $273 million ($198 million USD).

As part of the contract, which requires at least 80 percent domestic production, Colt will deliver up to 30,000 General Service (GS) rifles between 2026 and 2029 from its Kitchener, Ontario, factory. The contract includes provisions for a possible increase in the volume of deliveries with a Phase 2 option including 19,207 GS rifles and 16,195 "Full Spectrum" rifles, the latter outfitted with optics and other accessories. The full award covers a maximum of 65,402 rifles. 

The Canadian Armed Forces contains approximately 68,000 active and 32,000 reserve personnel, with about one third of those – 44,000 – being in the Army. 
 

An interesting factor on the CMAR is its use of an all-in-one combination flash hider/muzzle brake/flow-through suppressor, the Multi-Function Muzzle Device, or MFMD. Designed by Utah-based Strategic Sciences, the modular MFMD is billed as delivering in terms of sound (sub-140dB for all systems), flash (99 percent reduction), and recoil (60 percent faster follow-up shots) with a durability comparable to the barrel's life cycle.
 

As for what will happen to the country's soon-to-be surplus C7 and C8 rifles, which are based on the Colt M16A3 and M4, respectively, it is likely they will be retained in arsenal storage as the Canadian Armed Forces is seeking to expand its Primary reserve forces from the current 23,561 part-time members to 100,000 and beef up the current force of 4,384 inactive or retired Supplementary Reserve members to 300,000, figures not seen under the Maple Leaf flag since World War II. 

Canada adopted the license-built C7 series in 1984, replacing semi-auto inch-pattern FN FAL pattern C1A1 rifles in 7.62 NATO, which entered service in the 1950s.