![]() ![]() “2-7 was not the only battalion that had this epiphany. “Until you operate with a weapon system for some period of time, you haven’t identified all the considerations for employment,” Clark explained. “Historically, the Marine Corps kind of understood the shortcomings of the SAW but it was a service level decision to adopt it,” Clark said, “a Marine Corps requirement that was initially developed by the Army.”ĭissatisfaction soon arose and grew in the dozen or so years that followed, leading to the often-cited initial IAR trials conducted by the 1st Marine Division’s 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment circa 2000. As seen earlier in this feature, we certainly did and it proved highly instructive. We asked Clark when and why Marines in the field began asking for an alternative to the M249 that the Corps fielded beginning in 1985 and he suggested we talk with Gunner Eby, describing him as both a fellow Marine and personal friend. His combat experience spans 2005 through 08, including rifle company commander in the Al Anbar Province in Iraq, and as a combat advisor with the Afghan Commando Kandak (battalion), primarily in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. This seasoned Marine brings impressive credentials to the job, having held every billet in infantry battalions from Platoon Commander through Battalion Operations Officer. Combat weight of this light machine gun with 200 rounds loaded plus the USMC version ACOG, laser aiming module and bipod, is about twice that of a comparably equipped M27 and seven loaded mags. This evolved from an effort initiated in Marine Force Recon to make it lighter and more maneuverable, but now falling short of the new M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle. The 5.56mm belt-fed M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, adopted by the Marine Corps in 1985, is seen here in its latest ‘Para’ configuration. Tim Eastep, with 1st platoon, Alpha Company, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, provides suppression fire using his M249 squad automatic weapon, allowing his team to advance forward, during a mechanized assault as part of a live fire range exercise. Marines have since adopted a polymer magazine that does not have the feed problems and certain deploying units have obtained another type of 5.56 mm ammunition to correct for past problems with the EPR, he said.29 March 2010, Djibouti, Africa. That report found weapon stoppages at high cyclic rates ― a problem for what’s meant to be the squad’s machine gun.īut, retired Marine Chief Warrant Officer 5 Christian Wade, who worked closely with evaluation, testing and fielding of small arms and training in the Marine Corps, told the website Task & Purpose that the problems in that test were not with the weapon but rather with the aluminum magazines that had feed problems and with the type of ammunition that was being used ― the M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round. If we need to have a certain number of weapons within a team or company configured for designated marksman duties, we can do that too,” Mannweiler said.Ī 2015 report that was leaked online evaluated the use of the M27 as a designated marksman rifle, the role it has come to play in its M38 configuration. “If we need to do shorter suppressed barrels, that’s an option. The SOCOM upper receiver group and M27 lower are not compatible. That way operators can swap out components in their weapon system to meet various mission demands. Raiders use an M4 lower receiver, the trigger and housing, attached to a Special Operations Command-upper receiver, the barrel and bolt. “Given the smaller size of our operational units, the M249′s volume of fire provides a greater tactical benefit than the advantages provided by the M27,” said Maj. ![]() That has had to do both with the profile of missions requiring shorter barrels and also a need for a greater volume of fire they still get from the SAW, a MARSOC spokesman told Marine Corps Times in 2018. Marine Special Operations Command Raiders continue to carry the M4 carbine. Beaudreault, deputy commandant of Plans, Policies and Operations, told the congressman that H&K, a Germany-based company, won the competition and changes now would put fielding behind by two years and substantially raise the price of the contract.ĭespite its successes in fielding, certain elite within the Marine ranks decided not to take the new rifle and are sticking with the M4s.
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