U.S. Army tests prototype .50-Cal. gun

The U.S. Army Soldier Weapons Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., has ordered three prototypes of a first-of-its-kind lightweight .50-cal. machine gun that fires with less recoil force and can be carried more easily in rough terrain than the Army's current .50-caliber weapon.

Dubbed LW for lightweight and made by General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products (ATP), the 38-pound gun weighs less than half as much as the 82-pound M2 and incorporates a host of technologies designed to improve accuracy.

The gun uses impulse averaging, so it doesn't come to a hard stop. With an M2 today, user would have to take eye away from the sight because it would shake.

For several years now, the U.S Army has been working with industry in an effort to develop lightweight .50-caliber weapons. The LW .50-cal. is intended to be mounted quickly on light vehicles' Common Remote Weapons Station, a turret controlled remotely by soldiers with a joystick and video screen. The M2, a combat fixture for 70 years, will not be replaced.

The Army has ordered three prototypes from GD ATP for testing, which could lead to orders for thousands of the weapons.

The LW 50 has 250 pounds of recoil force, one-quarter that of the M2; has fixed head space and timing; and fires 200 to 300 rounds per minute up to 2,000 meters, Army and GD ATP officials said.The gun was recently test-fired by Special Operations Forces (SOCom).

In coming months, SOCom and Army evaluators will test the three prototype LW 50s at a GD ATP facility. The company will refine the design to incorporate lessons and customer input.Low-rate initial production is scheduled for 2011.