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.

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