MA37 assault rifle

The MA5 Individual Combat Weapon System, more formally known as the Individual Combat Weapon System, Caliber 7.62 mm, MA5, or as the MA37 by the, was a long-serving assault rifle used by the military of the.

Development & Service History
Designed in the early 25th century to replace the aging MA3 and MA4-series rifles, the MA5 was designed with reliability in mind. With political theorists beginning to predict fractures in society forming as expanded its borders ever further from, design efforts were primarily focused around making this new rifle better able to tolerate combat usage in the harsh conditions found on developing colonies. The MA4's direct impingement operation was eschewed in favor of a more expensive and mechanically complex but more durable short-stroke piston design, and the overall design of the rifle was made considerably more robust, with the barrel, gas piston system, and action all enclosed within a bulky yet lightweight titanium alloy casing. The magazine well was recessed heavily into the lower receiver, making the end of the magazine sit mostly flush with the grip and stock, preventing dirt and grime from infiltrating the receiver assembly through the magazine well. Simplistic overall construction and operation ensured that the new MA5 would have loose tolerances across the board.

The UNSC Army was the first to adopt the new MA5 rifle, which they classified as the MA37, in 2437. The quickly followed suit in 2438, with the  adopting it as well later the same year, and finally the  adopted the MA5 in 2440.

The weapon served admirably in all branches of the UNSC military until the early 26th century, when the Marine Corps and Navy began replacing it with updated versions of the MA5 design, namely the MA5B and the MA5-2 (which would later become the MA5D). Still, the Army and Air Force continued to stand behind the original MA5, citing comparable performance to its successor models and lower cost per unit. The Army and Air Force would continue to field the MA5 as their primary service rifle throughout the course of the.

However, in 2554 all branches of the UNSC military adopted the MA5D as their primary service rifle as part of standardization efforts conducted by UNSC. As of October 2558, the original MA5 has been mostly retired from service.

Design Details
The MA5 Individual Combat Weapon System was a bullpup, air-cooled, selective-fire, gas-operated assault rifle chambered in 7.62x51mm. The weapon was robust and bulky, lending to the weapon's legendary ruggedness. It relied on a short-stroke gas piston to operate the weapon's rotating bolt action, allowing for looser tolerances than its predecessor's direct impingement system permitted. The gas-piston system also kept the action cleaner due to the nature of the design keeping carbon particles trapped in the gas tube, making the MA5 easier to keep clean.

In its standard, factory-issued configuration, the MA5 was equipped with a rail-mounted Misriah M43-3 electronics suite set by default to display the amount of ammunition remaining in the weapon's current magazine as well as rudimentary navigational data, as well as a bulky KF606 flash hider, manufactured under license at Misriah plants. The weapon also came equipped with a LiteTex SLP-700 tactical flashlight, capable of emitting over seven hundred lumens. The M43-3 electronics suite could be removed to allow the attachment of optics, however a rail riser was required to lift the optics over the bulky barrel shroud. For this reason, the MA5 included a rail-riser as a standard component, and this was stored in the forward handgrip alongside the weapon's disassembly toolkit.

The MA5 utilized a seventy-five centimeter cold-hammered steel barrel with polygonal rifling and a one in six-point-five twist. The fairly deep rifling of the barrel was somewhat detrimental to accuracy due to heavier bullet distortion, but it also lasted longer, further contributing to the MA5's durability. Similarly, the pinning of the end of the barrel to the end of the receiver was another choice made by Misriah that improved barrel lifespan at the cost of accuracy.

The MA5 featured a spring-loaded dust cover to keep dust and grime out of the weapon's action when not in use. Cycling the weapon automatically opened the cover, to prevent operator error from causing failure to eject malfunctions due to forgetting to open the cover. For easy use by both right and left-handed operators, the MA5 featured an ambidextrous safety, magazine release, and fire selector, and the ejection port and charging handle were designed to be easily swapped to the opposite side.

Unlike later MA5 models, the original MA5 did not feature an underside rail for attaching underslung accessories such as grenade launchers, shotguns, or forward vertical grips. Misriah quickly introduced the specialized M866 Grenade Launcher attachment to help rectify this, although this attachment made the weapon bulky and awkward to handle. Side rails could be easily added to the weapon, however, thanks to cheap, first-party aftermarket attachments, allowing for laser sight modules and other such accessories to be added onto the side of the weapon.