The XM250 is the US military designation for the SIG-LMG a 6.8×51mm, gas-operated,

belt Belt may refer to: Apparel * Belt (clothing), a leather or fabric band worn around the waist * Championship belt, a type of trophy used primarily in combat sports * Colored belts, such as a black belt or red belt, worn by martial arts practit ...

-fed,

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sa ...

U.S. 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, cl ...

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 ...

in 2022 to replace the

M249 light machine gun The M249 light machine gun (LMG), also known as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), which continues to be the manufacturer's designation, and formally written as Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is the American adaptation of the Belgian F ...

. The XM250 features a free-floating reinforced M-LOK handguard for direct accessory attachment onto the "negative space" (hollow slot) mounting points.

History

In January 2019, the United States military began the

to find replacements for the

M4 carbine The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO, gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively ...

and

. In September 2019, SIG Sauer submitted their designs. The XM250 and XM5 were designed to fire the 6.8×51mm SIG Fury cartridge in response to concerns that improvements in body armor would diminish the effectiveness of common battlefield rounds such as the

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, but often pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, L110, an ...

(used in the M4 and M249) and 7.62×51mm NATO. On 19 April 2022, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

awarded a 10-year contract to Sig Sauer to produce the XM250 automatic rifle, along with the

XM5 The XM5 is the U.S. Army variant of the SIG MCX Spear, a .277 Fury, 6.8×51mm (.277 in), gas-operated reloading, gas-operated, magazine (firearms), magazine-fed, assault rifle designed by SIG Sauer for the Next Generation Squad Weapon Program in ...

rifle, to replace the M249 and M4, respectively; the names were chosen as the next numbers sequentially to the weapons they will replace. The first batch of 25 XM5s and 15 XM250s are planned to be delivered in late 2023. In total, the Army plans to procure a total of 107,000 rifles and 13,000 automatic rifles for close combat forces. The contract has the capacity to build additional weapons should the U.S. Marine Corps and

U.S. Special Operations Command The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Arm ...

choose to be included. The XM250 weighs , or with a suppressor, and has a basic combat load of 400 rounds in four 100-round pouches weighing . Compared to the M249 weighing unsuppressed with a basic combat load of 600 rounds in three 200-round pouches weighing , the XM250 weighs about less and a gunner carries roughly a heavier load with 200 fewer rounds. The barrel on the XM250 is not considered to be a quick-change barrel and the stock is collapsible but non-folding. The XM250, XM5, the

Vortex Optics Vortex Optics is an American manufacturer of special optical equipments for hunting, wildlife watching, outdoor recreation, shooting sports and law enforcement and military. Vortex products include binoculars, spotting scopes, riflescopes, r ...

XM157 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 ...

Fire Control Optic platform agnostic unit, and the 6.8×51mm ammunition are expected to be delivered to the first U.S. Army unit for operational testing by October 2023. Operational testing does not guarantee actual widespread future issue.

References

{{SIG Sauer Rifles Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2019 Machine guns of the United States 6.8mm firearms SIG Sauer machine guns

History

See also

References