LSAT light machine gun
The LSAT light machine gun is a component of the Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT) program. The purpose of the program was to develop a lighter, yet highly reliable light machine gun (LMG). The program was initiated in 2004, when the Joint Service Small Arms Program (JSSAP) challenged the American defence industry to develop a lighter small arms and also design lighter ammunition.
| LSAT light machine gun | |
|---|---|
A U.S. Army soldier shooting a cased telescoped prototype in 2010 | |
| Type | Light machine gun |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Production history | |
| Designer | AAI Corporation |
| Designed | 2003–2017 |
| Unit cost | ≤US$3600 |
| Produced | Earliest: 2010 |
| Variants | Cased telescoped ammunition firing variant Caseless ammunition firing variant |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 9.8 lb (4.45 kg) empty (cased telescoped variant) 9.9 lb (4.5 kg) empty (caseless variant) |
| Length | 36.1" (917 mm) (stock retracted) |
| Barrel length | 16.5" (418 mm) standard 12.5 in (320 mm) compact |
| Cartridge | Cased telescoped ammunition LSAT caseless ammunition |
| Caliber | 5.56×45mm NATO (at present) |
| Action | Gas-piston; push-through feed-and-ejection; open, swinging chamber |
| Rate of fire | ≈650 rounds/min |
| Muzzle velocity | 920 m/s (3,000 ft/s) |
| Effective firing range | ≈1,000 m (1,100 yd) |
| Feed system | 100 (cased telescoped) or 150 (caseless) round soft pouches of full-loop-polymer linked, disintegrating belts |
| Sights | optical, future variants to include advanced tracking and acquisition |
The LMG provides a major reduction in weight over legacy weapons, as well as improvements in other areas, such as controllability and reliability. As of 2008, it had two configurations, one that fires cased telescoped ammunition, and one that fires caseless ammunition. After further research and development into both technologies and the guns that fire them, one of the two variants was to be chosen for production. By May 2015, 85,000 cased-telescoped rounds had been fired through 10 test weapons, with testers claiming the weapon had gone as far as it can go until the Army decides if it wants to make it a Program of Record.