Defense News: US Defense Dept orders nearly $79 mil. worth of M249 machine guns from FN America

 

US Defense Dept orders nearly $79 mil. worth of M249 machine guns from FN America

The weapon is the American adaptation of the Belgian FN Minimi light machine gun

By Eyal Boguslavsky, Israel Defense, 09/24/2020

https://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/45466

A "fully improved" U.S. Army-issue M249, circa July 2010

Read more on:-

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/M249_light_machine_gun#

The US Department of Defense has awarded FN America LLC with a $78.7 million contract to supply M249 Squad Automatic Weapons to the Army.

A U.S. Marine firing an M249 from an M122A1 tripod at a training range in November 2003

The Virginia-based company is estimated to complete delivery under the $78,709,973 firm-fixed-price contract by September 2025. 

Early M249 "Para" equipped with a M145 Machine Gun Optic, October 2005, Koshk Kowl, Afghanistan

The M249 light machine gun is the American adaptation of the Belgian FN Minimi, a light machine gun manufactured by the Belgian company FN Herstal. The weapon was introduced in 1984 after being judged the most effective of a number of candidate weapons to address the lack of automatic firepower in small units. The M249 provides infantry squads with the high rate of fire of a machine gun combined with accuracy and portability approaching that of a rifle.

A Ranger with 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment armed with a Mk 46 machine gun provides overwatch security on an objective during a mission in Iraq, November 2006. The Mk 46 is a variant of the M249 SPW that was adopted by USSOCOM.

The Army Recognition website said that M249s have seen action in every major conflict involving the United States since the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989. Due to the weight and age of the weapon, the Marine Corps is fielding the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle with plans to partially replace the M249 in Marine Corps service.

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