LW50

[Babbling Brooks]

I found some interesting information on the Lightweight .50-Caliber machine gun being developed for the U.S. military:

The LW50, an addition to the Army's arsenal of machine guns at one-half the weight of the M2 .50-Caliber Machine Gun and with 60 percent less recoil, does not require the setting of headspace and timing. The LW50 provides Soldiers with the punch of a .50-caliber machine gun in the footprint of a 7.62mm weapon system, allowing them to bring .50 caliber lethality to the fight in situations where using a light to medium machine gun is the only available option.

It will weigh less than 65lbs, including tripod and traversing and elevation mechanism, which makes it more portable than a normal .50 cal. And because it's designed to absorb recoil a lot better than most heavy machine guns, it's more accurate (stays on target). It's also a lot easier to maintain than a standard .50-calibre, with 131 parts, compared with 244 for the M2. And they've already test mounted it on a Stryker.

It will be interesting to see how this develops.  You can read more about it at Castle Argghhh!, which also has a photo of a LW50 set up at a range.

 

[jonathan_power]

the barrel looks really skinny, i dont think it could handle heat very well?

 

[Sonnyjim]

Sure the weapon system is cut down to 65lbs, but now you have 50 extra lbs of ammo per soldier for one burst. Interesting concept though.

 

[Babbling Brooks]

My buddy John followed up, and was able to get some questions about the LW50 answered by a Major from the office that developed the weapon for the U.S. Army.  Questions about durability were addressed, as well as concerns about ammo weight.  Worth reading:

http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/10/peosoldier_resp.html