When engineers looked at the heavy, 17.5-pound M249 carried by Soldiers, they decided to put it on a diet and rearrange some of the components. They also came up with a new smart grenade.

1 / 6 Show Caption + Sgt. Krista Has, a 68W Combat Medic assigned to the 44th Medical Brigade, fires the M249 light machine gun at the Fort Liberty, NC firing range on Mar. 8, 2024. The U.S. Army ...

The M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, or SAW, is an individually portable, gas operated, magazine or disintegrating metallic link-belt fed, light machine gun with fixed headspace and quick change ...

U.S. Army modernization officials told Congress recently that the service will begin fielding the 6.8mm weapons that will replace M249 squad automatic weapons and M4/M4A1 carbines in fall 2021. Lt ...

The M249 in use in Afghanistan. Video The US Army is looking for an upgrade to the M249 squad automatic weapon, a mainstay of the infantry squad and its prime source of firepower.

The M249 fires a 5.56 mm round, and the Army is currently examining rounds of intermediate caliber between 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm to be used in both light machine guns and the eventual replacement ...

The US Armed Forces widely uses the M249 SAW light machine gun, as it's tried and tested on the battlefield, but all weapons have limitations, as a new video from West Coast Armory shows. To test the ...