Textron Systems Reaches Development Milestones with 7.62mm and 5.56mm

On display at the Textron Systems booth #620 at the 2017 Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC) in Tampa, FL, USA, this week, Textron Systems Unmanned Systems’, a business of Textron Inc., 15lbs 7.62mm CT Medium Machine Gun has achieved two significant milestones in the continued maturation of its family.

Textron Systems’ 15lbs 7.62mm CT Medium Machine Gun recently completed Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 demonstrations, consisting of validating the performance of the integrated weapon’s operating mechanism. Upcoming milestones include obtaining a limited safety release and participation in Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE) 2018.

Additionally, Textron Systems’ 9lbs 5.56mm CT Light Machine Gun, which is at TRL 7, recently completed a demonstration for the Swedish Armed Forces. The demonstration, which was conducted at the Land Warfare Centre in Kvarn, Sweden, assessed the weapon’s accuracy, mobility and maintainability against their current lightweight machine gun. Results showed that the 5.56mm CT Light Machine Gun required 30% less ammunition to accomplish a fire mission, provided a 20% tighter shot grouping and scored significantly higher soldier ratings for ease of maintenance, trigger operation, recoil reduction and burst fire control, according to the company.

“We are pleased with the recent results achieved during testing on both the 7.62mm and 5.56mm CT Machine Guns, as well as our development progress to-date.” Unmanned Systems Vice President of Control & Surface Systems Wayne Prender, said. “As we develop these weapons, our intent is to make them as lightweight as possible while also improving performance – these tests and developments validate that we are accomplishing these goals.”