Personal infantry weapons: old weapons or new hardware in the coming decades?

Personal Infantry Weapons

Despite current shifts in world affairs, infantrymen will continue to need effective personal weapons, whether armies are engaged in peaceful deterrence, low-intensity warfare or global conflicts. Generally, infantry weapons have received only marginal attention in defense budgets, but since some 60 to 80 million assault rifles and some 8 to 11 million machine-guns have been built since the early 1950s they cannot be dismissed lightly.

Budgetary allocations for the 1990s will determine if old calibers and weapon types or new hardware