FN Herstal M249

On February 1, 1982, the M249 machine gun was officially adopted by the United States Army. The M249 Squad Automatic Weapon is the United States military designation for a sub-family of the FN MINIMI squad automatic weapon. The MINIM is manufactured by Fabrique Nationale in Belgium, while the M249 is made by FNH USA, the American subsidiary of FN. The M249 was the winner of a competition carried out by the US Military in the late 1970's and early 1980's for a new squad automatic weapon.

The M249 was one of many firearms fielded in the late 1970's, 80's, and 90's that were part of the NATO adoption of a new smaller round. The Belgian cartridge SS109, developed for use with the MINIMI, was the winer of the competition for the new, standardized 5.56 millimeter round.

The M249 is an air-cooled, gas-operated, fully-automatic-only firearm that fires from an open bolt position. It can accept belts of linked 5.56x45 millimeter NATO ammunition through the top-mounted feed tray or through the side-mounted port. The M249 SAW features a built-in bipod and a tripod-mounting lug for supported fire, as well as a quick change barrel that helps prevent overheating during sustained fire. The gun has good firepower for its size. The latest reports on failures of M249 SAW weapons in Iraq are sometimes attributed to the age of the weapons used, and sometimes to the dusty environment in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of the current-issue M249s in U.S. Army are more than 10 years old, which is not excessively old for a service firearm, but can reduce reliability. There have been issues with its performance at other times, particularly earlier in its development. In addition to its traditional use as an infantry weapon, the M249 is also sometimes used as a vehicle-mounted weapon, most often on Humvees, either in the normal roof mounting (manually or remotely operated as part of a system such as the CROWS mount, sometimes in addition to heavier weapons such as an M2 Browning machine gun), or on a swing arm mounting accessible by the front passenger seat. It is also one of the weapons that can be mounted on the SWORDS robot.

• 25% had engaged the enemy with their SAWs (personnel, bunkers, buildings, and vehicles).
• 54% reported problems cleaning or maintaining their weapons.
• 30% reported weapons easily rusting.
• 80% of Soldiers were pleased with the weapon’s accuracy and lethality.
• 64% of the Soldiers were confident in their weapon.
• Soldiers reported ammunition drums falling off and rattling.

Within NATO, besides the US, the armed forces of several nations use the FN MINIMI and see that article for a list of users of the MINIMI.

Users of the M249 are:

• Canada: Land Force Command uses the C9 FN MINIMI
• France: Armée de Terre, replacing the AAT-F1 GPMG.
• Norway: Coastal Rangers and Army Ranger Command use the M249
• Slovenia: Military of Slovenia
• Hungary: Hungarian Ground Forces
• Turkey: Turkish Army(Special Forces)
• Italy: Italian Army
• United Kingdom: British Army

Non-NATO

Afghanistan (M249)-the Afghan National Army Argentina (M249)— the Argentine Marine Corps uses the M249 SAW in all of its combat arms (e.g. Infantry, Artillery, Recce.) units. These guns were acquired as part of the Marine Corps' modernization program of the mid to late 1990s. Australia (F89)— the Australian Army uses a locally built version of the FN light machine gun. It is essentially the same, but fitted with a Picatinny rail and a 1.5x magnification optical sight. It also has a longer flash suppressor (same type as the FN MAG 58) than the standard MINIMI. Unlike the M249, there is no heat shield and the carrying handle is fixed, not folding. Each F89 comes with two live barrels and one blank-firing barrel. The gunner will normally carry the spare barrel in the field. Two F89s are carried in each nine-man infantry section. Small numbers of the MINIMI Para are used by Australian paratroopers and special forces.

• Chile (M249)- the Chilean Army, Infantria De Marina.
  
• Japan (M249)— the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces partially replaced the NTK-62 machine gun with the MINIMI. Licensed and manufactured by Sumitomo Heavy Industries.
• Mexico (M249 and MINIMI)- the Mexican Army and Mexican Navy uses the M249 and MINIMI machine guns, while the Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales and Fuerzas Especiales uses them too.
• New Zealand (C9) - The New Zealand Army uses the Canadian C9 with their Steyr AUGs.
• Nepal(M249)-The Nepalese Army uses the M249.
• Philippines (M249)— in use by the Philippine Army and Marines.
• Taiwan: Republic of China Army
• Thailand uses (M249 and FN MINIMI)