Army tests prototype .50-caliber gun

[unhappycamper]

Made by General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, the 38-pound gun weighs less than half as much as the 82-pound M2 and incorporates a host of technologies designed to improve accuracy.


Army tests prototype .50-caliber gun
By Kris Osborn - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 13, 2008 17:15:07 EDT

The Army Soldier Weapons Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., has ordered three prototypes of a first-of-its-kind lightweight .50-cal. machine gun that fires with less recoil force and can be carried more easily in rough terrain than the Army’s current .50-caliber weapon, service officials said.

Dubbed LW for lightweight and made by General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (ATP), the 38-pound gun weighs less than half as much as the 82-pound M2 and incorporates a host of technologies designed to improve accuracy.

“The gun uses what is called impulse averaging, so it doesn’t come to a hard stop. With an M2 today, you would have to take your eye away from the sight because it would shake,” said Army Col. Carl Lipsit, program manager for soldier weapons at Picatinny.

For several years now, the Army has been working with industry in an effort to develop lightweight .50-caliber weapons. The LW .50-cal. is intended to be mounted quickly on light vehicles’ Common Remote Weapons Station, a turret controlled remotely by soldiers with a joystick and video screen. The M2, a combat fixture for 70 years, will not be replaced, just added to, said Lt. Col. Mike Ascura, product manager for crew-served weapons at Picatinny.

“We’ve done a market survey of the arms manufacturers to look and see what is available. It will still be a crew-served weapon with a tripod. It will be man-portable,” he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/defense_50caliber_051308/

[razors edge]

1. Kick for later. n/t

[razors edge]

2. Good looking design.

About time the 50 got a revamp into a more portable, user friendly device.