M249 Squad Automatic Weapon

The M249 SAW, formally as the Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, is the United States Armed Forces adaptation of the Belgian FN Minimi, a light machine gun designed and manufactured by FN Herstal. The M249 SAW is manufactured in the United States by the subsidiary FN Manufacturing, LLC (FN America), a company in Columbia, South Carolina. It was adopted in 1982 by the U.S. Armed Forces to address the lack of sustained automatic fire capability at the squad level and has been widely used since. The M249 SAW combines the rate of fire of a machine gun with the accuracy and portability of an assault rifle. The M249 SAW is a gas operated and air-cooled light machine gun. It features a quick-change barrel, enabling the operator to rapidly replace an overheated or obstructed barrel. It can be paired with a folding bipod attached to the front of the gas block, or attached to an M192 lightweight ground mount tripod. The M249 SAW features a dual-feeding mechanism, configured primarily as a belt-fed machine gun while also being compatible with STANAG magazines used in the M16 rifle and M4 carbine. The M249 SAW has been fielded in major conflicts involving the United States military since the United States invasion of Panama in 1989. In 2009, the United States Marine Corps selected the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle to partially replace the M249 in USMC service. In 2022, the U.S. Army selected the M250 light machine gun from SIG Sauer to replace the M249 SAW.