FN America Awarded US Army Contract

M240B

FN America [FN Herstal] has been awarded a new indefinite contract by the Department of the Army to build M240B, C, D, and H machine guns and spare receivers. The contract includes four one-year ordering periods not to exceed $84.6 million.

FN has produced more than 2 million firearms for the US Armed Forces since 1989 at the Columbia, South Carolina factory. FN also produces M4/M4A1 carbines, M16 rifles, MK19 grenade machine guns, M249 SAWs and the MK-46 and MK48 machine guns.

The M240 series machine gun has been used by the US Armed Forces since the late 1970s, mostly by the infantry with modified models used for ground vehicles, watercraft, and aircraft. It has been a reliable medium belt-fed machine gun that fires 7.62mm (.308 caliber) ammunition issued with an extra barrel. They are known for their quick-change barrel system when barrels get too hot. It is usually fired from an integrated bipod, a vehicular mount, or an M192 tripod. The updated M2 tripod is mostly used by the US Marine Corps. It has a maximum firing range of 3,725 meters (4,074 yds) and uses a non-disintegrating DM1 or disintegrating M13 linked belt. The rate of fire is 750 to 950 rounds per minute, a gas-operated, open bolt system.

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