Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 10, 2010

The M249 light machine gun is an American version of the FN Minimi, a light machine gun manufactured by the Belgian company FN Herstal. The M249 is manufactured in the United States and is widely used by the U.S. Armed Forces. The gun 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 gun provides the heavy volume of fire of a machine gun with accuracy and portability approaching that of a rifle to infantry squads. The M249 is gas-operated and air-cooled. It has a quick-change barrel, allowing the gunner to rapidly replace an overheated or jammed barrel. A folding bipod is attached near the front of the gun, though a M192 LGM tripod is also available. It can be fed from both linked ammunition and STANAG magazines, like those used in the M16 and M4. This allows the SAW gunner to use rifleman's magazines as an emergency source of ammunition in the event that he runs out of linked rounds. M249s have seen action in every major conflict involving the United States since the 1991 Gulf War. Soldiers are generally satisfied with the weapon's performance, though there have been many reports of clogging with dirt and sand. Due to the weight and age of the weapon, the U.S. Marine Corps is considering designs for an infantry automatic rifle, which is planned to complement and partially replace the M249 in their service. (more...)

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