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| Science & Technology |
| New Ammo Slashes Machine Gun Weight |
| 2010-07-24 |
| Army Engineers at the Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.-based Joint Service Small Arms Program office have been working for the last six years on a radical approach to ammunition and weapons that has the potential to cut the weight Soldiers carry by nearly 50 percent. Researchers are using so-called "cased telescoped" ammunition that does away with the propellant-holding brass shell and replaces it with a lightweight plastic case. So far the program, dubbed Lightweight Small Arms Technologies, has built three M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon-like machine guns and fired more than 10,000 of the lighter rounds with the same rate of fire and accuracy of a standard SAW. Engineers have also built a prototype M-4 that fires the lighter rounds. The experimental M-4 weighs about the same as a standard M-4 but has a 40-round magazine that's slimmer than the current one and straight instead of curved. And since half the weight of a legacy bullet is due to the brass case, a Soldier's load of more than 200 rounds in combat will drop substantially, Phillips said. With millions of dollars in Army research investment, the JSSAP office says it will be ready to put weapons in warfighters' hands by next year. Phillips said eight new SAWs will be built by AAI Corporation. She also said that the office plans to run an exercise with an infantry squad equipped with the new lightweight machine gun and 100,000 rounds of cased telescoped ammo. It's unclear what unit will get the experimental weapons for the test, which is slated for the summer of 2011, but the Army, Marine Corps and Special Operations Command are playing a key role in LSAT development, Phillips said. "We're just trying to get a comparison of the squad as it is today with the M-249" and the experimental weapon, Phillips said. "Our plan is just to replace the M-249 in the squad with the [new] weapon and see where that gets you with improvements in your time to complete the mission and your ability to complete the mission." The standard SAW gunner's load comes in at around 40 pounds, Army officials say, which includes the weapon itself and 600 rounds of ammo. The experimental machine gun with cased telescoped ammo load comes in at 24 pounds. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #8 Ive seen this ammo at the AAI booth a couple of years ago at AUSA. It is pretty impressive. I believe it deals with the isues of heat and sealing very effectively. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2010-07-24 19:11 |
| #7 Have to wonder how the plastic case holds up when the chamber is hot from heavy fire? Hate to have it melt and stick. |
| Posted by: Gomez Thranter5886 2010-07-24 15:33 |
| #6 sounds good too me Besoeker, but you know that would kll to many fluffy bunnies |
| Posted by: chris 2010-07-24 12:12 |
| #5 They could be the mostly deadly, weightless, invisible Death Ray bullets imaginable, but if you are not allowed to SHOOT them, what good are they? Besoeker's Small Arms Program Office six |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-07-24 07:54 |
| #4 Yep, you can never have too much ammo; you can have too much weight to carry. I'm hoping this is the Steve Holland ammo, but it doesn't sound like it with the straight magazine, and sounds like it needed a new chamber. Biggest problems so far have been seal to bullet at neck and design of case head; primer pocket and extraction. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2010-07-24 05:01 |
| #3 People been talking about "caseless" (the plastic just burns up) ammo for 50 years. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-07-24 04:52 |
| #2 2 things come to mind... First: How did they strengthen & seal the chamber under high pressures with plastic casings, did they tighten clearances, etc?) -- and will it work under field (dirt, fouling high heat) conditions? Second: Much of the 16 pounds "saved" will probably be used for more ammo. You can seldom have "too much" in the field. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-07-24 04:06 |
| #1 7.62 ball goes for what, $1-2 per shot? I'm sure this stuff will be $8, $12, $50 per cartridge? |
| Posted by: gromky 2010-07-24 02:21 |