The XM806 Lightweight .50 Caliber Machine Gun (LW50MG) was a developmental

.50 caliber This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber range. *''Length'' refers to the cartridge case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a ...

belt-fed

heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light machine gun, light, medium machine gun, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require weapon mount, mountin ...

.XM806 on PEO Soldier
Development began in 2009 and was cancelled in 2012.

Design

The XM806 weighed about less (49% lighter), had 60% less recoil than the M2, and had a greater rate of fire than the failed previous attempt to replace the M2, the

XM312 The XM312 is a heavy machine gun derived from the XM307 25 mm autocannon and chambered for the .50 BMG cartridge. It was designed in response to a request by the Military of the United States, U.S. military for a replacement for the aging M2 ...

. The XM806 did however have a considerably slower rate of fire than the M2. The XM806 also had improvements to user safety and was easier to disassemble. The XM806 was spun out from the cancelled

XM307 The XM307 Advanced Crew Served Weapon (ACSW) was a developmental 25 mm belt-fed automatic grenade launcher with programmable airburst capability. It is the result of the ''OCSW'' or ''Objective Crew Served Weapon'' project. It is lightweight and ...

and was developed by

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

to augment the M2. General Dynamics received a $9 million contract for the weapon. It was expected to be deployed starting at the end of

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

2012. Delays caused its planned deployment to be pushed to 2013 or 2014. The XM806 was cancelled in July 2012, with the Army using the money allocated to upgrade their M2 machine guns to the M2A1 version.Army Cuts XM806
- The Firearm Blog, 24 July 2012

Notes

External links

XM806 on PEO Soldier

Ma Deuce Goes Back To The Drawing Board
from Strategy Page

.50 BMG machine guns {{Machinegun-stub