![]() The machine gun is currently used on Humvees, tactical trucks, M1 Abrams tanks, Strykers, some Navy ships and several aircraft such as CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopters and UH-60 Black Hawks. 50-caliber machine gun during a training exercise with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in November 2002. 50-Cal along with an explosive "area weapon" effect of a grenade launcher.Ī US Marine mans a. The details of how this will be accomplished have not yet emerged, however the planning is to engineer a weapon that has the attack and suppressive fire ability of a. However, it is reasonable to assume that requirements, designs and then prototypes could emerge in the next few years. The effort is still very much in the early or conceptual phases, however future engineering and requirements initiatives plan to give shape, contours and direction to the new weapon as a result, Army officials did not yet specify a timeframe as to when this might be operational. “This will be one weapon with a totally different new type of ammo that is not yet even in the developmental phase,” Laura Battista, Product Management Engineer, told Scout Warrior in an interview. The idea is to simultaneously lighten the load of mobile attack forces while increasing their lethaltiy and envelope of attack with a single system that achieves the offensive firepower, and desired combat effects, of both weapons. This piece first appeared last year and is being republished due to reader interest.Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. and Russian security, European defense issues, and German politics and culture. He holds a Master of Public Policy and covers U.S. ![]() Special Operations Command Units.Ĭaleb Larson is a Defense Writer with The National Interest. Though used primarily by the United States military, the Mk 47 has not seen widespread use and is in service mostly with U.S. General Dynamics’ Mk 47 uses a Lightweight Video Sight that allows operators to engage targets during the day, and at night when used in tandem with a thermal imaging sight. ![]() Incredibly, the large grenade launcher weighs just under forty pounds, or about eighteen kilos, making the weapon system much easier for grunts to hump around. The grenade launcher is chambered in the same 40mm grenade ammunition as the previous Mk 19, though it can also fire airburst ammunition, useful against entrenched positions, or targets behind walls.īy far the biggest benefit the Mk 47 offers over the Mk 19 is its significantly lower weight. In order to remedy the Mk 19’s high weight, General Dynamics developed the Mk 47. This odd-looking launcher used a twelve-round canister, and appeared to use parts of the single-shot M79 grenade launcher as well as the M1919 machine-gun.Īll platforms aside, there is now something better that you may have never heard of: the Mk 47. The Mk 18 was often used in fixed positions during Vietnam, like bases, or on vehicle mounts.Īlong with the Mk 18, an odd hybrid machine gun grenade launcher was built and experimented with, the XM174. The design was relatively light-weight, though firing with a hand-powered crank rather than a butterfly-style trigger reduced the weapon’s accuracy. ![]()
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