Winnipeg Sun April 07, 2003
Machine-gun development transformed battlefield
By Mark Perry
The machine-gun revolutionized warfare and made mechanized battlefield mass-killing a bloody fact.
Contemporary forces use a range of machine-guns (as distinct from the full-automatic assault rifles) as infantry-squad fire support, fire-suppression, and in the heavier calibres, vehicle and light-armour destruction.
At the rifle-squad level, U.S. forces use the M249 "SAW" -- squad automatic weapon, a light belt-fed machine-gun of 5.56-mm (.233-calibre). The C9A1 is its Canadian counterpart. Both are based on the Belgian FN Minimi.
CREW-SERVED OR VEHICLE MOUNTED
Next up is the M240 medium machine gun, a descendant, like many of its type, from the revolutionary German MG-42 of the Second World War. Crew-served on foot or vehicle mounted, it fires 7.62-mm rounds.
FAS Military Analysis Network notes that the gun, derived from the 1950s Belgian FN MAG, is a ground-mounted variant of the original M240/M240C/M240E1 coaxial/pintle mounted machine gun used on M2/M3 Series Bradley fighting vehicles, the M1 Series Abrams tank, and the U.S. Marine Corps LAV-Series of light armoured vehicles.
Britain's FN MAG-derived version is the L7A1; Canada's is the C6 general purpose machine-gun (GPMG).
Next up in hitting power is the familiar Second World War-era M2 .50-calibre (12.7-mm) heavy machine gun -- the so-called "Browning." Globalsecurity.org reports "this weapon can be used effectively against personnel, light armoured vehicles; low, slow-flying aircraft; and small boats."
On the Iraqi side, the inevitable Soviet-era lineup of counterpart "cousins" is fielded: the RPK-74 5.45-mm light machine-gun, the PK series of 7.62-mm GPMGs, and 12.7-mm DShK "Dushka" and NSV heavy machine guns.
Copyright © 2003, CANOE, a division of Netgraphe Inc.
