bobdina
05-14-2009, 03:13 AM
SAW gets
longer look
New scope will improve gunners’ range, hit field by winter
By Dan Lamothe
The M249 squad automatic weapon is going high-tech, with a new optic on the way that will allow SAW gunners to identify targets better, pick off enemies at longer ranges and operate more independently from their fire teams.
The move could have widespread implications for the Corps’ infantry community, officials said. With four-man Marine fire teams built around the 5.56mm, belt-fed light machine gun, the move means better fire support for grunts and additional capabilities for machine gunners, who frequently rely on the guidance of team leaders and observers equipped with binoculars for direction on where to fire.
“SAW gunners are putting more rounds downrange than riflemen usually are, and up until this point, they’ve had no real way to identify targets beyond the range of their eyeball,” said Maj. Jason Arthaud, the optic’s project officer at Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va. “We’re at least now giving them this capability, which is essentially a fourpower optic that brings them up to the other riflemen in the squad.” The Corps will purchase more than 10,500 SAW Day Optics, or nearly one for every SAW in the Corps’ inventory, Arthaud said. Officials signed a $33 million contract with Trijicon, of Wixom, Mich., on April 30, and plan to field the device beginning early in 2010 as quantities become available, said Karl Solomon, optics team lead for SysCom’s optics and nonlethal systems program.
This is the first time the weapon will have its own designated optic. The Corps’ Rifle Combat Optic —
often known as the Advanced Combat Optic Gunsight
— has been used with the SAW in some environments, but the SDO has been adapted specifically to handle the SAW’s larger recoil and will eventually reach virtually every infantry squad.
An optic on every weapon
Marine officials said the idea to develop an optic for the SAW dates to the 2002 Marine Corps Gunner Symposium, where weapons experts recommended that the Corps equip every weapon commonly used in the squad with a scope.
The Corps began by fielding the RCO in limited quantities in 2003 and is in the process of distributing about 104,000 of them for use with the M4 carbine and M16A4 rifle family as part of a $660 million contract with Trijicon. It also has moved to formalize RCO usage, adopting guidelines that became effective Oct. 1 and directed Marines assigned to units that have received the optic to use it during their annual qualifications.
The RCO’s success in combat prompted the Corps to seek the SDO, Arthaud said. While it also falls in Trijicon’s ACOG family, the SDO varies from the RCO. First, it is equipped with 3½ times magnification, rather than the four-times magnification standard on the RCO. It also has slightly longer eye relief than the RCO, which will provide SAW gunners with protection from the weapon’s larger recoil.
Trijicon and SysCom declined May 6 to release specifications for the new optic, saying the contract had been signed only a few days earlier. But officials said it will be very similar to the 10-ounce RCO, which has a target reference system with a horizontal, graduated scale used in military marksmanship for range estimation.
“That’s by design,” said Arthaud, a former company commander with Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 1st Battalion, 6th Marines. “There’s an investment in training, so we requested similar attributes with how this one is mounted and how it’s zeroed.” Because the SAW is an automatic weapon, Marines won’t zero the optic the same way they do with the RCO when it’s mounted on the M16A4 and M4. But that’s already the case when the RCO is used on the SAW, officials said, noting that machine gunners can “draw a circle” around a target and aim for the center.
“A lot of the training materials have yet to be developed, but right now it looks like there shouldn’t be any difficulty,” Arthaud said. “The zeroing procedures will essentially remain the same; it’s just now there will be an optic instead of the iron sights.” At night, SAW gunners will continue to use their helmet-mounted PVS-14 scope with laser guiding, thermal weapon sights and the AN/PVS-17C, a night-vision device that weighs less than 2 pounds and can be mounted on both the SAW and the 7.62mm M240B machine gun.
Army officials have not expressed an interest in the SDO. Currently, soldiers use the M145 machine gun optic on the SAW. That scope provides three-to-four power magnification and is compatible with the M240B, according to the Program Executive Office Soldier portfolio for fiscal 2009.
Auto-rifle still coming
The new SAW optic will debut in the field as the Corps continues to test a likely replacement for the weapon in many situations. The 5.56mm, 30-round Infantry Automatic Rifle is expected to become the main fire support weapon in fire teams no sooner than October 2010, with four prototypes vying for the contract now in testing.
As it’s still unclear when the IAR and the SAW optic will be fielded Corpswide, the optic equipped SAW could be a focal point in fire teams for an undetermined amount of time, especially if the IAR’s rollout is delayed.
“Right now, we still have 249s, so [the Corps has] gone ahead and made the justification that we can benefit from having optics on the 249 now,” Arthaud said.
The plan is to reduce the number of SAWs in the Corps from 11,381 to about 8,000 while purchasing 4,100 auto-rifles, causing some changes for grunts. Critics have questioned whether swapping from a light machine gun that can carry a 200-round drum to an automatic rifle with a 30-round magazine translates to a loss of too much firepower. Marine officials, however, say replacing the SAW, which weighs 17 pounds unloaded, with an auto-rifle weighing no more than 12.5 pounds unloaded will aid mobility.
The SAW Day Optic was developed to fit both the SAW and the IAR. There’s no decision yet whether the RCO or SDO will be designated the scope of choice for the auto-rifle, but the SAW optic is “probably the leading contender,” Arthaud said.
Once the IAR is fielded, officials expect changes for Marines on the rifle range, where automatic riflemen will have to qualify with the new weapon, rather than a service rifle. It was not clear at press time whether the new optic requirement that applies to the RCO will eventually be extended to the IAR.
10,577
The number of SAW Day Optics that Marine officials intend to purchase Todays Marine Corps Times
longer look
New scope will improve gunners’ range, hit field by winter
By Dan Lamothe
The M249 squad automatic weapon is going high-tech, with a new optic on the way that will allow SAW gunners to identify targets better, pick off enemies at longer ranges and operate more independently from their fire teams.
The move could have widespread implications for the Corps’ infantry community, officials said. With four-man Marine fire teams built around the 5.56mm, belt-fed light machine gun, the move means better fire support for grunts and additional capabilities for machine gunners, who frequently rely on the guidance of team leaders and observers equipped with binoculars for direction on where to fire.
“SAW gunners are putting more rounds downrange than riflemen usually are, and up until this point, they’ve had no real way to identify targets beyond the range of their eyeball,” said Maj. Jason Arthaud, the optic’s project officer at Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va. “We’re at least now giving them this capability, which is essentially a fourpower optic that brings them up to the other riflemen in the squad.” The Corps will purchase more than 10,500 SAW Day Optics, or nearly one for every SAW in the Corps’ inventory, Arthaud said. Officials signed a $33 million contract with Trijicon, of Wixom, Mich., on April 30, and plan to field the device beginning early in 2010 as quantities become available, said Karl Solomon, optics team lead for SysCom’s optics and nonlethal systems program.
This is the first time the weapon will have its own designated optic. The Corps’ Rifle Combat Optic —
often known as the Advanced Combat Optic Gunsight
— has been used with the SAW in some environments, but the SDO has been adapted specifically to handle the SAW’s larger recoil and will eventually reach virtually every infantry squad.
An optic on every weapon
Marine officials said the idea to develop an optic for the SAW dates to the 2002 Marine Corps Gunner Symposium, where weapons experts recommended that the Corps equip every weapon commonly used in the squad with a scope.
The Corps began by fielding the RCO in limited quantities in 2003 and is in the process of distributing about 104,000 of them for use with the M4 carbine and M16A4 rifle family as part of a $660 million contract with Trijicon. It also has moved to formalize RCO usage, adopting guidelines that became effective Oct. 1 and directed Marines assigned to units that have received the optic to use it during their annual qualifications.
The RCO’s success in combat prompted the Corps to seek the SDO, Arthaud said. While it also falls in Trijicon’s ACOG family, the SDO varies from the RCO. First, it is equipped with 3½ times magnification, rather than the four-times magnification standard on the RCO. It also has slightly longer eye relief than the RCO, which will provide SAW gunners with protection from the weapon’s larger recoil.
Trijicon and SysCom declined May 6 to release specifications for the new optic, saying the contract had been signed only a few days earlier. But officials said it will be very similar to the 10-ounce RCO, which has a target reference system with a horizontal, graduated scale used in military marksmanship for range estimation.
“That’s by design,” said Arthaud, a former company commander with Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 1st Battalion, 6th Marines. “There’s an investment in training, so we requested similar attributes with how this one is mounted and how it’s zeroed.” Because the SAW is an automatic weapon, Marines won’t zero the optic the same way they do with the RCO when it’s mounted on the M16A4 and M4. But that’s already the case when the RCO is used on the SAW, officials said, noting that machine gunners can “draw a circle” around a target and aim for the center.
“A lot of the training materials have yet to be developed, but right now it looks like there shouldn’t be any difficulty,” Arthaud said. “The zeroing procedures will essentially remain the same; it’s just now there will be an optic instead of the iron sights.” At night, SAW gunners will continue to use their helmet-mounted PVS-14 scope with laser guiding, thermal weapon sights and the AN/PVS-17C, a night-vision device that weighs less than 2 pounds and can be mounted on both the SAW and the 7.62mm M240B machine gun.
Army officials have not expressed an interest in the SDO. Currently, soldiers use the M145 machine gun optic on the SAW. That scope provides three-to-four power magnification and is compatible with the M240B, according to the Program Executive Office Soldier portfolio for fiscal 2009.
Auto-rifle still coming
The new SAW optic will debut in the field as the Corps continues to test a likely replacement for the weapon in many situations. The 5.56mm, 30-round Infantry Automatic Rifle is expected to become the main fire support weapon in fire teams no sooner than October 2010, with four prototypes vying for the contract now in testing.
As it’s still unclear when the IAR and the SAW optic will be fielded Corpswide, the optic equipped SAW could be a focal point in fire teams for an undetermined amount of time, especially if the IAR’s rollout is delayed.
“Right now, we still have 249s, so [the Corps has] gone ahead and made the justification that we can benefit from having optics on the 249 now,” Arthaud said.
The plan is to reduce the number of SAWs in the Corps from 11,381 to about 8,000 while purchasing 4,100 auto-rifles, causing some changes for grunts. Critics have questioned whether swapping from a light machine gun that can carry a 200-round drum to an automatic rifle with a 30-round magazine translates to a loss of too much firepower. Marine officials, however, say replacing the SAW, which weighs 17 pounds unloaded, with an auto-rifle weighing no more than 12.5 pounds unloaded will aid mobility.
The SAW Day Optic was developed to fit both the SAW and the IAR. There’s no decision yet whether the RCO or SDO will be designated the scope of choice for the auto-rifle, but the SAW optic is “probably the leading contender,” Arthaud said.
Once the IAR is fielded, officials expect changes for Marines on the rifle range, where automatic riflemen will have to qualify with the new weapon, rather than a service rifle. It was not clear at press time whether the new optic requirement that applies to the RCO will eventually be extended to the IAR.
10,577
The number of SAW Day Optics that Marine officials intend to purchase Todays Marine Corps Times