The
TRW Low Maintenance Rifle or LMR was a proposed
insurgency weapon
Insurgency weapons and tactics are weapons and tactics, most often involving firearms or explosive devices, intended for use by insurgents to engage in guerrilla warfare against an occupier, or for use by rebels against an established governme ...
designed by TRW Inc. (formerly Thompson Ramo Wooldridge) of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. The intent was to produce an easy-to-use and operate firearm which could be disseminated to insurgent forces supporting the United States' military interests. The design utilized the same
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, and ...
ammunition and
STANAG magazines as the
M16 rifle
The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...
. It would have been equipped with the
M6 bayonet along with its M8A1 scabbard.
Development began in 1971, and ceased in 1973 with the weapon never having been fielded.
See also
*
FP-45 Liberator
The FP-45 Liberator is a Handgun, pistol manufactured by the United States military during World War II for use by resistance forces in occupied territories. The ''Liberator'' was never issued to American or other Allied troops, and there are fe ...
/
Deer gun
The Deer gun, developed by the CIA, was a successor to the FP-45 Liberator, Liberator pistol. The single-shot Deer gun was intended for distribution to South Vietnamese guerrillas as a weapon against North Vietnamese soldiers.
Design
The Deer gu ...
- insurgency handguns of similar concept.
*
International Ordnance MP2 - another insurgency firearm derived from the
Sten.
*Avenger submachine gun - improvised submachine gun made and used by
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
Loyalists in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
during
The Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
.
*
FG 42
The FG 42 (German: ''Fallschirmjägergewehr'' 42, "paratrooper rifle 42") is a selective-fire 7.92×57mm Mauser automatic rifle produced in Nazi Germany during World War II. The weapon was developed specifically for the use of the ''Fallschirmj ...
/
Sturmgewehr 52 - rifles of similar external design.
*
Sterling 7.62
The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun (SMG). It was tested with the British Army in 1944–1945 as a replacement for the Sten but it did not start to replace it until 1953. A successful and reliable design, it remained as stan ...
- an "emergency standby weapon" of British origin.
*
MG 30
The ''Maschinengewehr'' 30, or MG 30 was a German-designed machine gun that saw some service with various armed forces in the 1930s. It was also modified to become the standard German aircraft gun as the MG 15 and MG 17. It is most notable as th ...
- a light machine gun of similar external design.
*
Knight's Armament Company
Knight's Armament Company (KAC) is an American firearms and firearms parts manufacturer, best known for producing the Rail Interface System (RIS) and the Rail Adapter System (RAS) grips for firearms use. They currently produce a variety of firea ...
SR-47 - an assault rifle that was intended to have similarly high reliability as the LMR.
References
;Notes
;Sources
*
*
External links
TECHNICAL MANUAL - OPERATION AND MAINTENANCEForgotten Weapons - TRW Low Maintenance RifleThe TRW Low-Maintenance Rifle: A cheap response to the AK-47
{{TRW
Trial and research firearms of the United States
Assault rifles of the United States
Insurgency weapons
TRW Inc.