“We will have many barrels that will lessen the logistic burden of having a spare barrel all the time.

“This will be one weapon with a totally different new type of ammo that is not yet even in the developmental phase,” Alessio explained.Īside from improving the weapon itself, the Army will also embark upon a simultaneous excursion to develop a lighter profile barrel. 50-cal machine gun and the Mk19 grenade launcher.

50-cal program is also looking at a longer-term project to engineer a lighter weight caseless ammunition which will reduce the amount of brass needed, he added.įurther into the future, the service will also create requirements for a new externally-mounted weapon to replace both the M2. If a soldier can do that by himself that is an added benefit,” Alessio said. That is one of the added benefits as far as getting it on and off the vehicle. If it is lighter, you are going to be able to traverse the weapon a little bit easier than a 20-pound heavier weapon. “If you are a top gunner and you are having to move this weapon around – it is on a pedestal tripod. The lighter weight weapon will bring additional an additional range of mission sets for Soldiers who will be better able to transport, mount and fire the weapon against enemies. “We are looking to test this summer,” he said. An acquisition contract is expected several months after the RFP is released. 50-cal built by this coming summer as a preparatory step to release a formal Request For Proposal, or RFP, to industry in the first quarter of 2017, Alessio said. The Army plans to have initial prototypes of the new lightweight. A major requirement is to engineer a 60-pound weapon compared to an 86-pound weapon,” Laura Battista, Product Management Engineer, told Scout Warrior in an interview. “We always want to lighten the soldier load. and then go to Anniston Army Depot, Ala., for riveting and further construction. The parts for the titanium prototypes will be built at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. 50-cal, described as still in its infancy stage, still needs to be built, riveted and tested. The new weapon, engineered to be 20-to-30 percent lighter than the existing M2, will be made of durable, but lighter weight titanium, Army officials said. 50-cal machine gun designed to better enable Soldiers to destroy enemies, protect convoys, mount weapons on vehicles, attack targets on the move and transport between missions. The Army is creating a new, lightweight version of its iconic.

Calibre 50 arma