The FN EVOLYS is a

general purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered f ...

designed by FN Herstal, chambered for 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition. It is produced since 2021. The EVOLYS was designed to be lighter and more ergonomic than other machine guns, such as the

FN Minimi The FN Minimi (short for french: Mini Mitrailleuse; "mini machine gun") is a Belgian 5.56mm light machine gun/squad automatic weapon developed by Ernest Vervier for FN Herstal. First introduced in the late 1970s, it is now in service in more th ...

History

On 22 April 2021, FN Herstal created a

teaser trailer A teaser (or more specifically teaser trailer) is a mini- trailer and a form of teaser campaign advertising that focuses on film and television programming. It is a videography pre-release move or television show advertisement. Short in length, te ...

, showcasing a new machine gun with the title "A New Chapter Begins". On May 6, FN Herstal released a 20 minute

promotional video In video production, a promotional video is marketing or advertising: Arts, media and entertainment * Promotional recording, an audio or video recording distributed to publicize a recording * Trailer (promotion), a commercial advertisement for a ...

, discussing the new design, including its technical aspects, and revealing its name: the EVOLYS. In September 2021, the EVOLYS was first displayed to the public at the Defence and Security Equipment International trade show in London, and it began to enter pre-production the same month.

Design

The EVOLYS was designed from the ground up for use in

urban warfare Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both the operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and t ...

, which has become more common, and which holds specific requirements. Rather than taking the

base of fire In military terminology, a base of fire is a supporting force that provides overwatch and covering fire to other advancing units while they are executing fire and movement tactics. A base of fire can be a platoon during company fire and movement, ...

from a

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

, the EVOLYS was designed to improve the amount of firepower that could be provided by a single soldier. It is

select fire Selective fire is the capability of a weapon to be adjusted to fire in semi-automatic, fully automatic, and/or burst mode. The modes are chosen by means of a selector switch, which varies depending on the weapon's design. Some selective-fire we ...

, with the option between semi-automatic and

fully automatic An automatic firearm is an auto-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous discharge ...

fire modes. The EVOLYS uses a lateral feed mechanism with the belt at a 45° angle, and it is fully ambidextrous, with all its controls accessible on both its sides, and it can be loaded with one hand. The firing operation is unusual as it uses an open bolt, firing with a separate hammer upside down inside the upper receiver. This prevents accidents and runaways as even if the bolt moves forward, it won't fire unless the hammer is released by a trigger pull. A single accessory rail mounted on the top of the receiver allows for the mounting of various optics, allowing for better target acquisition. Previous machine gun designs had to use multiple rails, which were not integral to the receiver, making the attachment and usage of optics more difficult. Similarly, because of the increased use of suppressors, the EVOLYS was designed to be capable of having a suppressor permanently fitted, without it affecting the weapon's performance. The EVOLYS was constructed using

3D printing 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...

and

polymers A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic an ...

, which help to reduce its weight. At , the EVOLYS is up to 30% lighter than competing machine guns such as the

. The EVOLYS is chambered for 5.56×45mm and 7.62×51mm, with

6.5mm Creedmoor The 6.5mm Creedmoor (6.5×48 mm), designated 6.5 Creedmoor by SAAMI, 6.5 Creedmoor by the C.I.P. or 6.5 CM or 6.5 CRDMR for short, is a centerfire rifle cartridge introduced by Hornady in 2007. It was developed by Hornady senior ballistics ...

and

.260 Remington The .260 Remington (also known as 6.5-08 A-Square) cartridge was introduced by Remington in 1997. Many wildcat cartridges based on the .308 Winchester case had existed for years before Remington standardized this round. Because 6.5 mm ( ...

variants in development for potential use by special forces.

Users

* :

French Special Forces The Commandement des Opérations Spéciales ( en, Special Operations Command) or COS is a joint staff charged with overseeing the various special forces of the French Army, Navy and Air and Space Force, bringing them all under a single operationa ...

* :

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

for test purposes * :

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

for test purposes in

Next Generation Squad Weapon Program The Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) program is a United States military program created in 2017 to replace the 5.56mm M4 carbine and M249 SAW light machine gun and the 7.62mm M240 machine gun, with a common system of 6.8mm cartridges; and to ...

References

{{FN Herstal firearms FN Herstal firearms Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2021 Machine guns of Belgium 5.56×45mm NATO machine guns 7.62×51mm NATO machine guns

History

Design

Users

See also

References