A Brief History of the AR-15

Financial issues forced Armalite to sell its patent to Colt in 1959 who began marketing the rifle to the U.S. military and, in 1960, found an advocate for the AR-15 in famed U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay who wanted to replace the M-2 carbine issued to Air Force security personnel. [Colt sold the first AR-15s] to British forces in Malaya (today, Malaysia). In 1961, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sent AR-15 rifles to U.S. Army Special Forces fighting in South Vietnam.

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