M249 SAW Machineguns and FN Herstal By US Army and US Marine Corps Replacements

The M249 SAW Machineguns Joint Services Small Arms Program (JSSAP), established by the US Department of Defense to define and harmonise small arms requirements across the armed services, has conducted extensive analysis of the performance of small arms in the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The JSSAP has a developed a model of ‘Battlespace Depth’ which defines the close quarter battle space as 0-50m, the close battle as 0-100m, the mid-range battle as 50-600m and the far range battle as 300-3,000m. Some 80% of engagements fought by US forces in the Global War on Terror have taken place within 300m, reinforcing the analysis of most post-1945 conflicts.

As the US Army and US Marine Corps seek replacements for their ageing 5.56mm M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW) the debate has reopened about the relative merits of belt-fed light support weapons (LSW) and magazine-fed light machine guns (LMGs). Manufacturers are offering weapons of both types. “Get the General!” as they say in the British Army. The FN MAG-58 is still the pre-eminent light and general purpose machine gun, and there are few tactical situations where it is not welcome.

M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW)

Following the US Army’s cancellation of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon and the USMC’s selection of the M16A4 as its new assault rifle both services have set the replacement of the 5.56mm M249 Squad Automatic Weapon as their first small arms priority.

FN Herstal’s Minimi light machine gun was officially type classified by the US Army as the M249 SAW on 1 February 1982 following its selection to meet the service’s SAW requirement. It both replaced and augmented the M16A1 carried by the automatic rifleman in each army and marine fire team, as well as the 7.62mm M60 general purpose machine gun in the Platoon. During the Vietnam War the disadvantages of humping the 11.1 kg M60 and its ammunition outweighed the ability of the 7.62mm round to penetrate logs, termite hills and undergrowth.

Taking a gamble, which eventually paid off handsomely, Belgium’s FN Herstal developed the 5.56mm Minimi in anticipation that NATO would adopt the 5.56 x 45mm cartridge as its second standard small arms calibre. The Minimi was unveiled in 1974 and was thus well placed when the US Army issued a Materiel Need Document for a 5.56mm SAW two years later. The standard Minimi weighs 7.1kg unloaded and measures 1.04 m in length. Although usually belt-fed from 200-round plastic boxes the weapon can also be fed from 30-round NATO standard magazines without modification. It has a cyclic rate of fire of 1,000 rpm and an effective range of 1,000m.

M249 SAW

The US Army describes the effective range of the SAW against point targets as 600m, against area targets as 800m and in the suppressive role as 1,000m. More than 30 countries have acquired the Minimi and the weapon is made under license by Beretta for the Italian armed forces, by Thales Australia for the Australian and New Zealand defence forces, Sumitomo Heavy Industries for the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force and Taiwan’s Hsing-Hua Arsenal. In the Australian, Belgium and Canadian armies the Minimi replaced the heavy barrel automatic rifle (HBAR) variant of the FN 7.62mm FAL assault rifle.

Since 1996 FN Herstal has produced the Minimi New Standard weapon offering improved reliability and ergonomics. The company also offers variants for users willing to sacrifice range in order to save space. The first to appear was the Para Mini which has a 349 mm barrel in place of the standard 465 mm barrel and a sliding buttstock which reduces the weapon’s length to 766mm when the butt is retracted and 914mm when extended. Maximum effective range is reduced to 800m.

Recognising that most engagements occur in the 50-600 ‘mid-range battlezone’ many recent customers including the British Army and Royal Marines have selected the ParaMinimi for general infantry service. In the UK, each of the two four-man fire teams within an infantry section is now issued with a Minimi for the primary purpose of providing suppressive fire at ranges out to 600 m. The BAE Systems L86A2 Light Support Weapon now equips the designated marksman in each fire team; the combination of bipod, heavy barrel and optical sight enables the accurate engagement of targets out to 800 m.