The Marine Corps and Army are developing new caseless and case-telescoped ammunition that, when partnered with a new light machine gun also in development, could significantly cut the burden on troops in combat. And perhaps more significant than that, in the coming years this revolutionary ammo could drive production of the Corps’ next service rifle.
Caseless ammunition, which is free of the heavy brass casings found on traditional cartridges, will allow Marines to carry more rounds or simply shed weight — up to 25 pounds for the typical M249 Squad Automatic Weapon gunner, said George Solhan, the Office of Naval Research’s deputy chief researcher for expeditionary maneuver warfare. Some of the ammo and weapon systems now in development could be ready for action in just a year or two, according to researchers.
Dropping weight
The Marine Corps and Army are developing new ammunition that, when partnered with compatible weapons, could cut some serious weight from the gear troops carry in combat. A look at the numbers:
M249: 51.3 pounds when fully loaded with 1,000 rounds of linked ammo — 17.5 pounds for the weapon, 33.8 pounds for the ammo.
“For the cost of a couple of current-generation jet fighters,” he said, “you could do that for the entire Army and Marine Corps.”
A new light machine gun could be fielded within two years if military leaders and lawmakers on Capitol Hill put their unequivocal support behind the project, he predicted. There are nearly a dozen working prototypes of what is known as the Lightweight Small Arms Technologies machine gun. To the user, it looks and feels like a conventional machine gun, but at less than 10 pounds, it is nearly half the weight of an M249 SAW. And there is additional weight savings when comparing the new ammo to standard 5.56mm rounds.
More @ Marine Corps Times
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