May 19,
2008: The U.S. Department of Defense has
given General Dynamics $9 million to try and develop a lightweight .50 caliber
(12.7mm) machine-gun (to be known as LW50MG for the moment) that works. An
earlier attempt (the XM312) by General Dynamics did not work out so well.
Three
years ago, field testing of the XM-312, the proposed replacement for the eighty
year old, .50 caliber (12.7mm) M-2 machine-gun, began, in the United States and
overseas. Then, nothing. That's because the test results were not encouraging,
the biggest shortcoming being the low rate of fire (about 260 rounds per
minute). This is about half the rate of the M2, and was believed adequate for
the 25mm smart shells the XM312 was originally designed for (as the XM307). But
for 12.7mm bullets, it didn't impress the troops. There were some reliability
problems, which could be fixed. The rate-of-fire issue, however, has proved to
be more difficult. Meanwhile, a new upgrade for the M2 has been fielded, and Ma
Deuce still rules the battlefield. The new M2E2 has a quick change barrel,
flash hider and lot of small improvements. It is much in demand.
Originally,
the M2 replacement was going to be the M-307, which was designed so it could
fire either the computer controlled 25mm "smart shell" of the XM-25, or (by
changing the barrel and receiver), .50 caliber ammo. But it was felt that a
straight replacement for the M-2 was needed quickly. The original plan was for
the troops to begin getting the XM312 in 2008, or sooner. But the dismal test results
produced a trip back to the drawing board.
The M-2, nicknamed "Ma Deuce" by the troops,
has been around so long because it was very good at what it does. Accurate,
reliable, rugged and easy to use, many of the M-2s currently in use are decades
old, and finally wearing out. The army doesn't want to build new ones, and
wasn't sure it could do without the venerable, and very useful, M2. So it ended
up going ahead with the plan to build a new .50 caliber machine-gun (the
XM312). Actually, this Ma Deuce replacement is basically the XM307, but without
the ability to fire 25mm rounds. The XM312 weighs 36 pounds (compared to 50 for
the M-2), even with the addition of the electronic fire control stuff from the
XM307. The LW50MG will ignore the 25mm
business, and probably borrow a lot of ideas from superior 12.7mm designs
developed in other nations. That's because the LW50MG won't be the first
lightweight rival for the Ma Deuce replacement market. Buying a superior
foreign replacement is difficult politically (although it is done), and there
is also the feeling that the superior foreign weapons aren't as superior as
they could be.
