M249

The Minimi (Mini-mitrailleuse, "mini-machine gun") is a light machine gun manufactured by Fabrique Nationale.

The M249 SAW designation is used by the US armed forces.

Overview

The gun has an excellent reputation on reliability and firepower, and the latest reports on failures of M249 SAW weapons in Iraq are attributed to the age of the weapons used - most of the current issue M249s in US Army are more than 10 years old and quite worn out.

• United States usage (M249)
  The M249 has been in service with the US Army since 1984. In the USMC, the SAW is usually carried at the fire team level; that is, one member of a three- to five-man team carries this weapon. The SAW is also standard issue for a four- to five-man amphibious reconnaissance team.

• British usage (Minimi)
  Recently, the British Army has equipped each four man fire team (2 per section) with the current variant of the Minimi. It is considered a fire support weapon between light support weapons and general purpose machine guns. They are usually fitted with the Common Weapon Sight (CWS) - an optical day and night sight.

• Australian usage (Minimi)
  The Australian Army uses the F89 Minimi, a locally built version of the FN light machinegun. It is essentially the same, but fitted with a Picatinny rail and a 1.5x magnification optic sight. It also has a longer flash suppressor than the standard Minimi. Two F89s are carried in each nine-man infantry section. Small numbers of the Para Minimi are used by Australian paratroopers.

• Israeli usage (Minimi)
  The Israeli Defence Forces were among the first to introduce the Minimi as a legitimate 5.56 mm SAW, and show its quality in combat. Limited numbers of Minimis were purchased in the early 1990s and saw combat in south Lebanon. The Minimi performed well and bought itself reputation, but in 1995 it was decided to purchase the IMI Negev, an Israeli manufactured 5.56 mm LMG, which fitted more to IDF requirements.

• French usage (Minimi)
  The Minimi is widely used by the French Armée de Terre.

• Nepalese usage (Minimi)
  The Nepalese army uses 5,500 Minimi machineguns. The weapon delivery was endorsed on July 11, 2002 by the Belgian government.

• Swedish usage (Minimi)

Variants

M249 SPW - the Special Purpose Weapon has Picatinny rails mounted on the feed cover and forward grip, a short barrel and a Para-style retractable stock. Some features from the SAW and Para models were removed to save weight - these include the STANAG magazine port, the tripod mounting lug and the built-in bipod. The SPW was adopted by the US SOCOM under the designation Mk46 Mod 0.

Many US SAWs have been modified to carry SPW-style Picatinny rails on the feed cover. This allows them to mount commercial day and night optical sights like the M68 Aimpoint or low-magnification scopes. Additionally, some SAWs have fixed steel tubular stocks instead of the polymer stock pictured above.

All SAWs can mount the laser equipment needed to participate in a MILES combat simulation. This picture shows an M249 fitted with MILES gear.

The weapon can also mount 3rd party suppressors. In particular, Gemtech manufactures suppressors designed to be mounted on NATO standard flash hiders, such as the one used by most variants of the M249. In reality however, this practice is discouraged since most suppressors overheat when subjected to sustained fire.

See also