Mission
Deter, and if necessary, compel adversaries by enabling individuals and small units to engage targets with accurate, lethal, direct automatic fire. Entered Army Service
1987 Description and Specifications
A lightweight, gas-operated, one-man-portable automatic weapon capable of delivering a large volume of effective fire at ranges up to 800 meters. Two M249s are issued per infantry squad. It is scheduled to replace the M60 7.62 medium machine gun in certain units. | Caliber: | 5.56 mm | | | Weight: | 16.5 lbs | | Max effective range: | 1000 m (area target) 600 m (point target) | | | Rate of fire: | 750 rounds per minute | Manufacturer
FN Manufacturing (Columbia, SC) Point of Contact
Office of the Chief of Public Affairs
Media Relations Division
1500 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-1500
703.697.7592 / 7591 | 
