Copy linkEmailFacebookWhatsAppXLinkedInBlueskyThreadsImpact Link
SaveSaved
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider
subscribers. Become an Insider
and start reading now.Have an account? .
YouTube/FUNKER530
Everyone carries stuff with them to work. Some of it we can forget and go without; other things like a cellphone, we go back for, because we just can't make it through the day without it.
2012-03-17
What troops on the ground in Afghanistan can't go without is the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW).
Every day is routine for deployed U.S. troops. They pull duty, maintain their gear, and they go on patrol — day in and day out — until all hell breaks loose and a world of insurgents are trying to kill them.
When that happens, the SAW can effectively blanket an area with up to 120 rounds per minute. That's two 5.56mm bullets slipping from the barrel every second — fed from a 200 round belt — inside a quick-change drum.
Troops call it a "Wall of Steel" that has saved more American lives than they can count.
When it works.
The SAW is flawed: Parts break off, it's hard to clean, it jams, and like all machine guns it overheats to the point of uselessness, and changing the barrel isn't always an option.
But like an old cellphone we keep until the plan renews, the SAW is what U.S. troops have until something better comes along.
The following slides are from a firefight with a U.S. Army unit at Combat Outpost Charkh in Afghanistan, and some infrared shots at an indoor range.
Like most attacks, this one begins suddenly and the soldier wearing the helmet camera quickly lifts his SAW to fire from behind this wall
Despite being loved for its lethal firepower the SAW is no joy to lug around — it weighs 22 pounds with its 200 round ammo drum attached. "A hell of a lot of weight to move around when the s*** gets thick," one infantryman commented.
Sure enough, back in action, this piece of black plastic flies off and lands on the wall. Troops say clips holding the ammo drums to the weapon constantly break off, and this gunner ducks back down to repair the damage.
These links that hold the bullets together are another big issue. One small misalignment will jam the SAW, as one gunner pointed out: "Bumping it, tossing it, getting tousled in packs causes issues."
And it's back in the game. Making up for the down time by letting loose with with a full 850 cyclic* rounds per minute will overheat the barrel, so restraint is paramount
*Cyclic rate is how fast a gun will fire with unlimited ammunition and an indestructible barrel. In real life, gunners need to reload and swap out hot barrels.
This thermal camera video shows how hot the weapon actually gets
Which led one Marine gunner to say: "What will you do with the spare barrel if you overheat it? You can't place it in the barrel bag — it will burn through."
But the heat isn't as much an issue as the jamming. Infantry soldiers are trained to aim and fire, as much as possible, rather than just opening up with a machine gun. Though sometimes it's all they can do to just get a shot off — like this soldier reaching above the wall.
A quick pull of the pin, and four seconds later it detonates, killing everything within 15 feet and wounding all within 45 feet. One former soldier told us: "I couldn't believe how powerful grenades were the first time I used them. Definitely not like the movies."
The attack began so suddenly this guy dropped his Gatorade amid a pool of spent shell casings. The video cuts out after 11 minutes, and we'll bring you the next one soon.
Robert Johnson was Business Insider's senior correspondent and the originating editor of Business Insider's military-and-defense section.A former US Army noncommissioned officer, Johnson enlisted in the Army before 9/11, was injured, and spent his final two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It was his experience at Walter Reed in 2004 and 2005 that brought him to journalism.Johnson attended the University of Missouri and New York University.
