M240

The US standard 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun — derived from the FN MAG, adopted in 1995 to replace the M60, and now the ubiquitous belt-fed backbone of infantry, vehicle, and helicopter firepower across NATO.

Overview

The M240 is the US military’s standard medium machine gun, chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO and built from the Fabrique Nationale (FN) MAG 58. It serves as the infantry’s general-purpose machine gun (GPMG), the coaxial weapon on armored vehicles, and a door-gun on helicopters. The weapon is belt-fed, gas-operated, and fires from an open bolt, delivering sustained fire out to roughly 1,800 meters. In American service since 1995, the M240 has seen sustained combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and has been supplied in large numbers to Ukraine.

Development

FN Herstal developed the MAG (“Mitrailleuse d’Appui Général”) in the late 1950s, and it entered production in 1958. FN Herstal continues to manufacture the weapon, which now arms over 80 countries under multiple designations — including the British L7 and the US M240. The US Army and Marine Corps adopted the M240 in 1995 to replace the aging M60, ending a decades-long search for a more reliable 7.62mm GPMG. Army Historical Foundation notes that the M240B variant—the infantry-configured model—became the primary ground machine gun for US forces from the late 1990s onward.

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