GD to Develop Lightweight .50 Caliber Machine Guns

CHARLOTTE, N.C.: The U.S. Army Joint Munition and Lethality Life Cycle Management Command has awarded General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products a contract to develop a Lightweight .50 Caliber (12.7mm) Machine Gun (LW50MG) weapon system.

The $9 million contract will fund development of the gun and system components such as the tripod, vehicle adapter assembly and Blank Firing Adapter (BFA). General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products is a business unit of General Dynamics .

The LW50MG has significantly less recoil and is lighter than current weapons. It will be easier for warfighters to carry and will provide them with the potential for increased accuracy and lethality in combat.

Production and fabrication work will be performed at the General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products facility in Saco, Maine, with development work performed at the company's technology center in Burlington, Vt.

"Our Lightweight .50 Caliber machine gun represents a new generation of weapon systems," said Robert Cavoretto, senior program manager of General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products' gun systems. "It offers unprecedented mobile lethality to warfighters, giving them the critical edge. We are proud to work with the U.S. Army to develop this important technology for our country's current and future warfighters."

The Saco facility is the General Dynamics' core production facility for single- and multi-barrel aircraft and crew-served (requiring more than one person to operate) weapon systems. The site provides complete production capabilities, from design and development to manufacturing, testing and integration. Products manufactured at the facility include the MK47 40mm Grenade Weapon System and the M2HB 12.7 mm (caliber .50) machine gun.

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, located in Charlotte, N.C., provides a broad range of system solutions for military and commercial applications. General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 84,000 people worldwide and reported 2007 revenues of $27.2 billion. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies.