M249 SAW

The M249 Squad Automatic Weapon is the belt- or magazine-fed 5.56mm light machine gun that has provided squad-level base of fire since the mid-1980s. Derived from FN Herstal's Minimi, it fires from an open bolt at roughly 800 rounds per minute from 200-round soft packs and is issued one or two per rifle squad.

Combat feedback from Iraq and Afghanistan drove the M249 PIP shortened barrel, hydraulic buffer, and rail-mounted upgrades that remain standard today. The Army's Next Generation Squad Weapon program is now replacing the M249 with the 6.8mm M250 in close-combat formations, but the M249 will remain in service across the remainder of the force and with the Marine Corps for years.

Related Systems