The Mk 48 Light Machine Gun

[Slater]

Another recent presentation that I happened across. From what I gather, this Mk 48 is somewhat of a turd in certain areas and they're trying to improve it. They do sound somewhat impressed by foreign designs such as the Russian PKP. I dunno - do they have better approaches than we do?

http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2016armament/18355_Armstrong.pdf

[Averageman]

I'm pretty sure that you can lighten an M240, but if you want it so light that it is no longer a crew served weapon, yep, you will have issues.

[nml]

Hire the guys and gals that specced the F35. We'll get it done! 10 years late and a few billion $ over.

[crusader377]

Another recent presentation that I happened across. From what I gather, this Mk 48 is somewhat of a turd in certain areas and they're trying to improve it. They do sound somewhat impressed by foreign designs such as the Russian PKP. I dunno - do they have better approaches than we do?

http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2016armament/18355_Armstrong.pdf


The military will probably spend tens of millions of dollars coming up with a new system which will probably be scrapped anyone after gaining minimum performance increase at a vastly higher price.

What the military should do if it needs a light machine gun chambered in 7.62 is buy 5-10 samples off the shelf of the following listed below, put them through a openly competitive trial firing tens of thousands of rounds through each gun in a variety of climates and geographical conditions, pick a winner and then license produce it. Once licensed produced by a quality manufacturer in the U.S. have them do gradual improvements if needed.

Here would be my picks all around 20lbs or less empty.

MK 48 (current weapon)
M60E6
South African SS-77
Polish UKM-2000 (modernized PKM chambered in 7.62 NATO)
Negev 7.62
HK MG5 (may be a little heavy) or HK21