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The Army first began demanding a "bolt closure device" in the summer of 1963. Both Springfield Armory (the Govt Arsenal) and Colt submitted designs.The Air Force still refused to accept rifles with a forward assist. So the M16 no forward assist was procured for the Air Force and the M16E1 was procured for the Army.
The Air Force did not get weapons with forward assists until they started buying A2's for the Security Police and Combat Controllers a few years ago.
Jeff
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