Ka-bar Replacement?

it doesn't look like it, the blade, and pummel are slightly thinner, and the leather washers are just different.
 
General beater, there are plenty but the BK7 is a good one, and would do well at scale, as is the Strongarm. Keeping in mind that a lot of the really cool utility knives don't get cheaper in bulk, and that's what you want. As for a specialist knife, might as well make the pick from a few based on role, we know enough now that there is no reason why the airborne would carry the same combat knife as UDT. And as an actual utility knife, something between the RC-3 and the Falkniven WM1, good for food, good for delicate tasks, but enough to have as an offhand/weapon retention blade. The thing is that there are so many on the market that are good designs, all you would need to do is figure out which steel/heat treat could scale, and then that's what it is. The bigger factor is that kydex doesn't scale, injection moulding does, and sheath mounting options are key, so whatever you can get away with in the sheath design to make it durable, retaining and multi-positional is the thing that matters the most.
 
While there are some overqualified suggestion here, great knives for hiking and survive whatsoever, they are not idea to arm an army, which I believe is the point of the initial question.

1$ different in price doesn't look much in your wallet. However, when you arm a 100k guys, it is 100K$ different in the budget. So, as a little example, arming soldiers with CPK (about 500$) vs a 100$ knife will cost about 40G$ (400x100K) more for something insignificant in the grande scheme of thing. Spending that money on protective gear, or developing lighter weight protection, might save them more in a bad combat situation.

Full tang is great, but it is heavy. Soldiers try to shave out as much weight as possible to carry other stuff to unsure the success of the mission, and making sure that their mate are alive. Having the best knife that can only be used for worst case scenario, that's ill preparation. What task do you use with a knife anyway? Cutting rope and some small branches? If you need to cut something bigger, they will give you bigger equipment to make it done quick.

This is why there is no incentive on improving the knife and bayonet across the world. There are only some small change, insignificant, even to knife nuts, let alone those don't care of knives.

My suggestion is to give whatever nato issued bayonet, but in stainless. Something like the OKC-3s but a little smaller, like 15cm (6inches) instead of 20cm (8 inches) blade. Lighter, cheaper, less maintenance, but still useful. The bayonet ring, even if you don't have the rifle, makes it easy to attach on stick if it is needed for melee combat because of the reach.
 
sanglant said:
i think you can still get the case version as well.
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I believe you can. But Case never made them for the military. By all accounts they are nice knives, and they do look different than the Ontario ones. They would serve GI’s well.

From what I’ve heard the military doesn’t want to issue big knives anymore. Lets face it, the average soldier is basically a goofy kid, who will never need a big knife anyway. The elite combat units, have discretionary funds and will buy what they want/ need.
 
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A.L. said:
Said many times before but: multitool!
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As an ex Ranger and a paratrooper in the 82 Abn. I would say mutitools make great small tool kits but poor knives. Add a light, reasonable size fixed blade to that and I would feel a lot better equipped for combat. Everyone wants to say knives are never used for close combat but have you asked the Spartan guys about that? Not only do they come with years of real combat experience they have many contacts that are still going and doing.
 
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Sidehill Gouger said:
As an ex Ranger and a paratrooper in the 82 Abn. I would say mutitools make great small tool kits but poor knives. Add a light, reasonable size fixed blade to that and I would feel a lot better equipped for combat. Everyone wants to say knives are never used for close combat but have you asked the Spartan guys about that? Not only do they come with years of real combat experience they have may contacts that are still going and doing.
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For sure - I would have fixed blade too.
Spartans though? The ancient Spartans?
 
A.L. said:
For sure - I would have fixed blade too.
Spartans though? The ancient Spartans?
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Not sure if that was supposed to be a joke but I meant Spartan Knives. Mark and Curtis have extensive special ops experience in more than one war zone. Curtis actually made the combat jump into Panama with 2/75. They also served under my good friend retired Special Forces Sergeant Major John Larsen.
 
Sidehill Gouger said:
Not sure if that was supposed to be a joke but I meant Spartan Knives. Mark and Curtis have extensive special ops experience in more than one war zone. Curtis actually made the combat jump into Panama with 2/75. They also served under my good friend retired Special Forces Sergeant Major John Larsen.
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Ah. No joke, just didn’t get it 😄
 
I can see the strong-arm being a good choice if the 420 was HT by Buck. Might be wrong but Gerber HT hasn't impressed me lately.
 
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