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> army wants it for multiple reasons,
> air force want to dump it out.
The peculiarity of the US armed forces. Everyone branch has it's own air force beside the Air Force with different demands and expectations toward their weaponry.
While I understand why it is good to have a universal weapon, it won't fit tightly for every role. What fits everywhere will lack everywhere.
As far as I remember you not yet posted that quote here. But it reminded me something, which is actually unrelated beside it contains the narration of an air vehicle crew and it happened during a war, also the media covered it in many countries. Maybe will try and dig it out since it is interesting.