SERVICES: Army and Marine Corps
DESCRIPTION: The SAW is a lightweight 5.56mm machine gun carried by infantry squads. FEATURES AND BACKGROUND:
The SAW is a magazine or belted automatic rifle capable of hitting targets at more than 800 yards. It can be carried and operated by an individual soldier or Marine. It provides infantry squads and fire teams with the ability to fire at targets at greater distances than with a rifle and for longer periods of time without stopping. Gunners have the option of using a 30-round magazine or a 200-round magazine. The Army first issued this weapon in 1984 and intends to have 28,000 SAWs at the end of the planned procurement in FY 93. The unit cost of the SAW is $2,300.
