TAMPA, Fla. — Particular operators say the subsequent machine gun ought to ship the ability, vary and accuracy of a .50 caliber within the measurement of a platoon-level M240 machine gun.
That .338 Norma Magnum Light-weight Medium Machine Gun, to place it frivolously, is a “large development” in small arms for spec ops, one professional stated.
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The initiative launched again in 2017 and, within the ensuing years, two corporations, Sig Sauer and Basic Dynamics, have primarily been vying for the contract.
A lieutenant colonel over Particular Operations Forces’ lethality program for Particular Operations Command shared particulars of this and different small arms applications throughout his presentation Tuesday on the SOF Business Convention held right here by the Nationwide Protection Industrial Affiliation.
Because of media floor guidelines, officers on the rank of O5 and under aren’t recognized by title because of the operational nature of their work with SOCOM.
“That is principally going to offer us firepower, not precisely, of a .50 caliber in a M240 kind issue,” the official stated. “It’s a large development in SOF lethality and there are going to be a number of accoutrements.”
The present M240 machine gun is chambered in 7.62mm NATO. It’s a spherical that’s been in service for greater than half a century and has seen many developments however, most specialists agree, has reached the boundaries of its potential for vary and lethality.
The Marine Corps and the Army lately added a multi-barrel sniper rifle that may shoot 7.62mm, .300 Winchester Magnum and .338 Norma Magnum, Marine Corps Occasions reported.
The official stated the command remains to be working by means of the competitors, however expects supply of the machine gun by fiscal 2024.
Sig Sauer provided the Sig Sauer Light-weight Machine Gun, or SLMG, a 20-pound, foldable inventory machine gun designed to be fed from both facet. That characteristic permits the weapon for use successfully in dismounted, plane or floor automobile operations.
And the Sig Sauer model permits for an adjustable fuel block that matches stress necessities for a wide range of suppressors.
In 2019, Sig Sauer protection product supervisor Cory McQuilkin instructed Army Occasions the suppressor add-on hadn’t modified the weapon’s charge of fireside, a earlier concern with a majority of these programs.
Each small arm possibility now components in suppressors.
In 2017, Sig Sauer received the sidearm alternative contract for all the companies with the Modular Handgun System program. It additionally received the carbine and squad machine gun weapon alternative contract earlier this 12 months for the Subsequent Technology Squad Weapon program.
Basic Dynamics touts that at ranges out to 1,000m, its weapon combo can penetrate Stage III physique armor and knock out soft-skinned autos.
One other ongoing small arms alternative is the Mid-Vary Fuel Gun, chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor.
That weapon will come a bit earlier, anticipated to start deliveries this 12 months, based on slides the official displayed.
The following step for the fuel gun is creating an assault variant, helpful for airborne operations and close-quarters preventing in built-up areas.
For each weapons, the important thing add-ons might be “accoutrements,” the official stated. Which means optics, equipment to strap onto the weapon and, most significantly, new sorts of ammo.
He stated forces need armor-piercing rounds, coaching rounds and “one thing that acts like a tracer.”
The companies have been after a “one-way tracer” for years now. That’s as a result of when a shooter fires a tracer, the sunshine emitted could be seen from either side. That’s useful for a shooter “strolling in rounds” on a goal with others firing of their formation. But it surely works each methods, which means the enemy can see the place they’re capturing from and goal them accordingly.
Todd South has written about crime, courts, authorities and the navy for a number of publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written mission on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq Battle.
