Posted on 05/26/2018 9:06:40 AM PDT by MtnClimber
TAMPA, Fla. — Special Operations Command is planning to release solicitations next year for machine guns that are expected to give warfighters expanded capability, a SOCOM official said May 24. One is a lightweight medium machine gun that must provide commandos with a 2,000-meter engagement capability, be of comparable weight to the current M240B weapon and offer advanced barrel, suppressor and thermal mitigation technologies, said Lt. Col. Mark Owens, program manager for ammunition and weapons at program executive office SOF warrior. “We’re not looking for the same barrel technology in this body of weapons that we have seen in the last 50 years of machine guns,” he said during a panel discussion at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference in Tampa, Florida. “We’re looking for a barrel that has higher endurance, higher operational ability, greater availability for sustained fires." There will be requests for proposals for the system’s optics, pintle mount, tripod, suppressor and gun, he noted.
An RFP is slated for the second quarter of fiscal year 2019 with a contract award planned for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019, Owens said. The program executive office plans to use an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the effort and has set aside $49 million in funding.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaldefensemagazine.org ...
Hmmm 2,000 meters sounds good.
Range about 1.3 miles.
Aim a little high.
Think it will be a 300 Win Mag?
MG 08/15 - range 2000 meters effective, 3500 meters maximum. 8mm. At 40 pounds, it would need to shed a little weight to get town to the M240B’s roughly 28 pounds. Swapping out the wood for lightweight composite would be a good start. Or modifying it to air cooling would easily meet the weight (see the 08/19.
So it sounds what they are looking for was readily available 100 years ago.
A shot in the dark here. Would titanium enhance barrel endurance at a cost that is sustainable for military purchases?
If brittleness issues could be overcome, ceramics could provide long rates of sustained fire and eliminate corrosion concerns.
2000m effective range in a M240 sized package is a tall order. It has been a challenge to keep the ragheads beyond the range of their weapons without having to haul a M2 or Javelin.
Carbon wrapped barrel.
From the original article: “[and takes] advantage of the huge ranges the 6.5mm Creedmoor offers,” Owens said.”
When did that become an issue round?
Sounds like they are in the 6.5mm Creedmoor camp.
I wonder if sabot rounds could be used to reduce friction and eliminate metal fouling?
How about a ceramic barrel liner? Don’t have time to look up the melting points, but I wonder if a metal barrel could be cast, or even forged, around a ceramic liner. Would be complicated and expensive, but maybe worth it.
Yep. They're doing some pretty amazing heat dissipation tricks with those in the AR world. Of course, that's a $900 barrel, so the government probably couldn't afford it. Yes, that is a joke...
When this weapon is adopted?
Heat. Warping would be a issue with Titanium. Great for paintball barrels, though.
Any cartridge of that power such as .308 would easily go that far. Almost all military rifles of those days had volley sights or similar out to 2000 meters, or more.
It’s in the works right now.
When did that become an issue round?"
USSOCOM (US Special Operations COMmand) has selected it for it's Precision Intermediate Caliber (PIC). It may well go on to supplant the 5.56, since a major motivation for the PIC is to penetrate first-tier body armor.
Pardon me for asking a stupid question, but I was taught, “the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.”
Why the reinvention of cartridges? Anymore, it seems rifle buffs neck down and blow out the shoulder of some existing cartridge, then say they can load it with anything from H4831 to Cream of Wheat soaked in nitroglycerin and have magic bullets emerge from the barrel.
Clearly, I’ve missed something. And once again, please pardon me for asking, but I figured if anyone had some answers, it would be FReepers.
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