The M2 .50 “Ma Deuce” Machine Gun has been in continuous since the 1933 and is an irreplaceable gun. Why irreplaceable? There have been several attempts to replace it by the U.S. Army but it is still in service, with 24,000 and around 25,000 of the upgraded M2A1 in use in the U.S. Military. Even with its big size and hefty weight, it is used in vehicles, main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles., helicopters, aircraft and by infantry, knowing that it can inflict devastating damage up to 1,800 meters.

Now, the U.S. Army plans to have a new .50 caliber machine gun, but they want it lighter which means also much more portable. According to Scout.com, this will be 20-30 percent lighter than the M2 and will be made of Titanium. They have a target of a 60-pound .50 cal compared to the 80-pound M2.

So far, the plan is still very much in the early stages, with the new machine gun still to be built, riveted and tested with the titanium parts of the prototype to be built at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. In the Scout.com report, the U.S. Army plans to procure an initial 30 of prototype for “air drop, full reliability, durability, maintainability and government standard testing.”

Also part of reducing the weight of the .50 caliber machine gun is also in the area of ammo, and they are looking into caseless ammo, removing the amount of brass to be used. Another area apart from improving the performance of the weapon is to produce a lighter profile barrel.

With the .50 cal weapons development project there is also a plan to build a laser finder, optics, and fire control.  Called the Gun Mounted Optic or GMO, it is seen that this can be available to use for the gun in the next five years.