War_Conflict
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A trail of smoke from rockets fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza toward Israel is seen above Gaza City on Wednesday, March 12, 2014. The militant group Islamic Jihad in Gaza said it fired 20 rockets toward Israel on Wednesday, in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike that killed three of its members the day before. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
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The Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR)[10] is a modular rifle made by FN Herstal (FNH) for the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to satisfy the requirements of the SCAR competition. This family of rifles consist of two main types. The SCAR-L, for "light", is chambered in the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge and the SCAR-H, for "heavy", fires 7.62×51mm NATO. Both are available in Long Barrel and Close Quarters Combat variants. The FN SCAR systems completed low rate initial production testing in June 2007. After some delays, the first rifles began being issued to operational units in April 2009, and a battalion of the US 75th Ranger Regiment was the first large unit deployed into combat with 600 of the rifles in 2009. The US Special Operations Command has currently cancelled their purchase of the Mk 16 SCAR-L and are planning to remove the rifle from their inventory by 2013. However, they will purchase the Mk 17 SCAR-H version, and also plan to purchase 5.56 mm conversion kits for the Mk 17, supplanting the loss of the Mk 16. The SCAR was one of the competing weapons in the Individual Carbine competition which aimed to find a replacement for the M4 Carbine.
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Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., Commander, International Security Assistance Force, listens on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 12, 2014, while testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the situation in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama has threatened to withdraw all American forces from Afghanistan if a new security agreement is not signed by the end of the year, but there is no legal reason the U.S. has to resort to the "zero option," as administration officials have repeatedly claimed. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
