Lightweight Small Arms Technologies

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The Lightweight Small Arms Technology (LSAT) program was started in 2004 by the United States Army to develop a new family of handguns to replace the previous 5.56 × 45 mm NATO weapons . These developments are designed to fire telescopic cartridges with caseless ammunition (CL - caseless) or with composite cases (CTA - composite-cased telescoped ammunition) .

prehistory

After the end of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon program, it became clear that the development of the weapon had not failed because of conceptual or computer-technical hurdles, but rather because of the overall weight. The LSAT program therefore focuses in particular on reducing the weight of handguns. A light machine gun was chosen as the development object. Since these are among the heaviest handguns at all, a lower weight in this weapon family should have a particularly great effect.

development

For faster development, the AAI Corporation acquired licenses for the technology of the HK G11 from Heckler & Koch , including for the barrel lock and caseless ammunition.

By using telescopic cartridges in the G11 and LSAT, the bullets have a higher ballistic coefficient, which means that they lose less energy during flight. For the LSAT program, the 4.73 × 33 mm ammunition of the G11 was enlarged to 5.56 mm.

In contrast to the cylinder lock of the G11, the lock of the LSAT rotates around the longitudinal axis of the rifle in order to enable ammunition to be fed with both a belt and a magazine. A ram guides the cartridges from behind into the chamber, which then swivels behind the barrel. After the shot, the chamber swings back into the loading position; Objects that remain in the chamber (composite case, misfire) are ejected from the front by the subsequent cartridge, which is pressed in through the ram. This makes the breech particularly suitable for rifles in Bullpup design. A similar lock was also used on the Steyr ACR .

The LSAT rifle is designed in such a way that it can fire both caseless and composite cased ammunition without major changes. This is intended to reduce development risks.

Significant improvements were achieved by 2007: the machine gun is 45% lighter than the M249 SAW . The telescopic cartridges with composite sleeves are 33% lighter than the normal 5.56 × 45 mm NATO ammunition; the weight of the caseless ammunition is 51% lower. There is also a rumor that during the tests a composite barrel with a ceramic inner coating was tested to further reduce weight and increase the barrel's heat resistance. As a further goal, the developers have set a maximum price of 3600 US dollars for the weapon and 262 dollars for 600 rounds of ammunition. Electronic components are also integrated into the weapon, such as a counter for used cartridges.

In 2008, the development of a rifle that uses the same technique began.

In June 2011, the LMG, of which four have been manufactured so far, were demonstrated to a select audience at Marine Corps Base Quantico .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2007 NDIA Conference ( Memento from September 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 4.7 MB)
  2. ↑ http://www.aaicorp.com/New/Advancedprograms/LSAT_ps05-11-06c.pdf
  3. ↑ http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/6619/smallarms56019.jpg
  4. ↑ Program background ( Memento from October 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 2.3 MB)
  5. ↑ 7007 NDIA conference update ( Memento from September 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 4.7 MB).
  6. ↑ Composite casing materials ( Memento of October 14, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 4.1 MB)
  7. ↑ Lightweight High Performance Gun Barrels ( Memento from August 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.6 MB)
  8. ↑ Composite casing materials ( Memento of October 14, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 4.1 MB)
  9. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from January 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Eric Kowal: Soldiers May Soon Have Lighter Machine Gun , Military.com, July 18, 2011, accessed December 17, 2011