No. Dedicated Machine guns are not Obsolete, Military weapons tend to have a slower rate of Evolution then Computer technology and tend to have a long life span.
What is happening is changes in the way some militaries equip The individual squad due to weight and accuracy limitations of the Existing So called Light Machine gun.
Well heavier Machine guns like the M240 are moving to a more important role and traditionally Heavy MG's like the M2 are being put on a diet and getting educated.
Today yes the USMC and now the British army have both been looking to phase down the number of FN Minimi LMG This is as even it's lightest weight infantry version is 14.5 pounds empty.
In a concept the Russians started moving to at the end of the 1990's Phasing out the RPK 74 and RPK in favor of reduced weight PKM's
Some western forces like the USMC aim to use systems like the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle and reduced weight versions of the FN MAG.
This is as the latest Versions of the venerable FN MAG empty is about the same weight as a fully loaded Minimi. and has a longer range and higher terminal effects, And A assault rifle with the proper build is a infantry friendly 7.9 pounds well still offering a degree of Squad suppressive fire. It would Of course demand that the GPMG be more active and more numerous but the lighter weight IAR weapon allows the LMG gunner to maneuver with the squad and operate in urban or vehicles.
The trade off is that Assault rifles are not designed for extended Supressive fire and more prone to over heat and issues with high capacity magazines.
Now at the same time the Minimi has been facing questioning of it's weight other lighter systems are starting to come on line along with other schemes to augment and reduce the weight penalty on the gunner. Systems like the KAC LMG A1 offer a 10 pound weapon with a continuous recoil system offering increased fire control on top of a light weight.
Simmilar case is the Ultimax 100 again a 10 pound weapon with a constant recoil system only this time with a magazine feed as apposed to the LMG's belt feed. Or the developmental Cased Telescoped systems by Textron a 9.8 pound base weapon yet still belt fed. All three I expect to be offerings for the
.
Along with new weapons are new or revisited ideas of Ammo carry
/
/
and There
all offer a Back pack with ammo Belt Director offering a over 700 round capacity of Ammo belts mounted on a Soldier's Back and hips and off the weapon.
And concepts to off load the shouldered weight of weapons like the
.
Grenade launchers like the Xm25, M320, M32 offer HE fire power to the squad which is fine but they Don't suppress the enemy they are designed to body slam a foe but they need to know where the Foe is precisely for best use and have a limited ammo supply in the Squad and long reload vs a Automatic weapon. They are excellent tools but If all you bring is a Hammer every problem looks like a nail... but what do you do if you need to tighten a screw?