09-01-2011, 09:14 PM
The Visegrad 4 have already been looking at new weapons systems. Polish Grom have been heavily influenced by a tight working relationship with certain elements in the US Spec Ops community, and the days of AK's and Vz58's are limited as these guys have felt the weight difference between an M4A1 w/ SOPMOD, and an AK with rails, light, Aimpoint, etc. The AK's days are numbered in Eastern Europe. It's already unacceptably front heavy in 1947 and 1953 forms, let alone with modern accessories attached. The Kreb's kits and Brugger & Thommet rails make an AK an even more ungainly beast of an Assault Rifle.
I don't see a need for them to load the same projectile for assault rifles and LMG's anyway, since they have had different end-user logistics packages for PKM's, MG3's, Vz's, SVD's, AK74's, MPi-AKS-74N's, Tantals, and so forth. A steel rod penetrator like the 7N6 or 7N10 would be great, with plenty of lead weight, and a thin projectile jacket. There is zero reason to have a strictly belt-fed LMG use the same projectiles as a mag-fed AR.
V4's biggest driver is Poland right now, and they have gained a lot of real-world operational experience in GWOT with their special forces and airborne units in Iraq and Afghanistan that the Russians simply have not. As I have worked with other nations in the region, I'm advocating them to either look at rebarreling existing rifles in inventory as the bores die, or adopting a new carbine entirely. No significant developments have been made as far as Light Machineguns are concerned since the Ultimax 100, and to a very limited extent, the KAC LMG. It gets overlooked too often, due to the distraction of trying to "fix" the Armalite/M4/Colt Commando...the one weapon system that isn't broken and is highly-favored by units that can choose whatever they want, literally, since no later than 1961, and is still the main go-to individual carbine in SAS, SBS, SF, NAVSPECWAR, Ranger Regiment, MARSOC, Force Recon, LRRPS/LRS, and a host of other countries' special ops where the M16 family is not their primary service rifle.
One of the biggest limitations is the lack of much development in the private sector regarding LMG's, because everyone wants to tinker with carbines and rifles, versus belt-fed. We'll see how it goes. I know what cartridge I would build around right now...
I don't see a need for them to load the same projectile for assault rifles and LMG's anyway, since they have had different end-user logistics packages for PKM's, MG3's, Vz's, SVD's, AK74's, MPi-AKS-74N's, Tantals, and so forth. A steel rod penetrator like the 7N6 or 7N10 would be great, with plenty of lead weight, and a thin projectile jacket. There is zero reason to have a strictly belt-fed LMG use the same projectiles as a mag-fed AR.
V4's biggest driver is Poland right now, and they have gained a lot of real-world operational experience in GWOT with their special forces and airborne units in Iraq and Afghanistan that the Russians simply have not. As I have worked with other nations in the region, I'm advocating them to either look at rebarreling existing rifles in inventory as the bores die, or adopting a new carbine entirely. No significant developments have been made as far as Light Machineguns are concerned since the Ultimax 100, and to a very limited extent, the KAC LMG. It gets overlooked too often, due to the distraction of trying to "fix" the Armalite/M4/Colt Commando...the one weapon system that isn't broken and is highly-favored by units that can choose whatever they want, literally, since no later than 1961, and is still the main go-to individual carbine in SAS, SBS, SF, NAVSPECWAR, Ranger Regiment, MARSOC, Force Recon, LRRPS/LRS, and a host of other countries' special ops where the M16 family is not their primary service rifle.
One of the biggest limitations is the lack of much development in the private sector regarding LMG's, because everyone wants to tinker with carbines and rifles, versus belt-fed. We'll see how it goes. I know what cartridge I would build around right now...