Kampfwagen
Junior Member
This is was the subject matter of an article that had to do with the USMC looking to replace the M249. It dosent suprise me really, I have heard that the M249 has been suffering from reliability problems, especialy over in Iraq. From what I have read of the article, the goal of this latest round of replacements is to get a weapon similar in concept to the M1918 Browning Automatic Weapon, which is a squad automatic weapon with various other functions. So far, from what I can gather the most likely cannidate is the Mark Four version of the Ultimax 100 5.56 LMG. This version of the Ultimax suppourts the use of reflex and zoom sighting to replace the problematic original sighting, and fires from a 20-30 round STANAG standard to either a standard drum or C-Mag 100 round magazine, with a translucent Lexan backplate to allow the user to see when they are running out of ammo. The Gun features managable recoil, and in the article the author mentioned (with photographic evidence) that he could fire the LMG with one arm without suppourt and standard 100 round drum mag. It has a bit of an advantage over the other competition in the fact that during the original M60 replacement trials, the Ultimax receved much favor during the trial testing but lost out to the M249. Ironic, eh?
Although I am not sure the validicty of the article (I dont care if it's not a word, I like it.) as it also mentioned that the XM8 is still in review. (I hope this is true, but last I heard the army canned the project.)
Although I am not sure the validicty of the article (I dont care if it's not a word, I like it.) as it also mentioned that the XM8 is still in review. (I hope this is true, but last I heard the army canned the project.)