American special forces will shoot further, more accurately and more deadly. Yesterday, May 24, portal militarytimes.com He said that under the SOF Warrior program, Special Operations Forces will receive new machine guns, as well as lightweight ammunition.
The basis of SOF Warrior will be the development of a new LMG-M machine gun in caliber for the American special forces .338 Norma Magnum. This caliber is already used for sniper rifles of the Special Operations Forces and the US Army.
A machine gun developed by Sig Sauer as part of the LMG-M program
Image source: armytimes.com
According to Colonel Joel Babbitt, head of the SOF Warrior program, the LMG-M machine guns will give shooters M2 machine gun capabilities in the size of M240. The mass of the LMG-M will be about 9 kg, with its help it will be possible to " tear apart not only the enemy infantry, but also the armored personnel carrier on which they were traveling." Purchases of LMG-M machine guns are planned to begin in 2023. In service, they will be able to replace not only the M240, but also in some cases the large-caliber M2.
True Velocity polymer sleeve cartridges
Image source: tvammo.com
An equally important stage of SOF Warrior will be the transition to polymer ammunition. The US Armed Forces are planning a phased transition to ammunition with a plastic sleeve, which on average will facilitate the ammunition by 30%. This problem is particularly acute for the same M2 machine guns on light vehicles (for example, on Little Bird helicopters).