אני חושב שכוונת G.D היא להחליף את מקלעי ה-7.62 מ"מ ולא את המק"כים. למקלע החדש יש טווח ארוך יותר ויכולת השמדת מטרות הרבה יותר טובה מאשר למקלע 7.62 מ"מ. אני מניח שהכוחות המיוחדים האמריקאיים יצטיידו במקלע זה בהקדם ויבחנו אותו באפגאניסטן ואז נלמד יותר, לדעתי גם ישראל צריכה לרכוש 100 מקלעים כאלו ולבחון אותם עבור החי"ר והשריון.

להלן מספר שורות מאת טוני וויליאמס שבחן וירה במקלע החדש, וגם עונה למספר שאלות בנושא זה.

Some notes from the GD presentation
- ballistic drop similar to .50 ball at 1500m
- defeats Level III body armour at 1000m
- delivers 4x the energy of 7.62mm at 1000m
- can maintain 10 minutes of continuous suppressive fire (50-100 rpm) without a barrel change
- very quick-change barrel (the carrying handle is on the barrel)
- quickly strips down into a few parts
- will fit on any M240 mounting (doesn't need a soft mount - the mechanism has its own, built in)
- the gun mechanism is called Short Recoil Impulse Averaging: it uses gas operation, but the barrel group recoils in the receiver and fires as it is moving forwards, giving a very smooth recoil push rather than a series of sharp kicks
- forward-stripping link specially designed: normal load 50-round soft pouch
- weight of gun plus one minute's worth of ammo (500 rounds) = 105 lbs, compared with similar load for M240 (800 rounds) = 100 lbs.
- GD working on polymer-cased ammo to reduce the weight.

I can imagine that troops facing long-range attacks in Afghanistan would be queuing up to carry this one into battle, despite the ammo weight. It provides what the US Army keeps stressing it needs: "overmatch". Unlike the M240, which can only match the performance of the PKM (with a lot more weight), this one will make PKM gunners afraid.

Some additional info, having heard a presentation on it. The action is a new hybrid; it is gas-operated, but has the recoil-smoothing mechanism of the XM806 LW50 (i.e. the gun fires as the barrel group is moving forwards). The weight and peak recoil are well within M240 limits and the gun can be used on any M240 mount. Soft mounts are not needed.

The 338NM was chosen over the 338LM mainly to achieve a good barrel life: the 338LM is rather hot and something of a barrel burner in an MG. Ammo weight is 702 grains, which makes it less than double the weight of 7.62mm – but you get 5 rounds for the weight of two .50, and it has a similar anti-personnel effective range.

A 338 LWMMG plus ammo for one minute’s continuous fire (500 rounds) weighs 105 lbs, compared with 100 lbs for an M240 (800 rounds).

The 338NM has 2.5x the muzzle energy of the 7.62mm, but 4x the energy at 1000m.

Tony Williams
Military gun and ammunition website:
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk