One lesson learned in Vietnam was that .50 caliber machine guns were not ideal for close infantry combat.  In various operations over the past decade, .50 caliber machine guns were still fired at personnel 90% of the time. The large round is deadly, but overkill.  Apache helicopters and A-10 attack aircraft faced the same problem in the 1991 Persian Gulf war as they attempted to hit infantrymen with 30mm cannon fire, while armored vehicles fired 25mm rounds at running Iraqis with modest success.

     "Splinter" bullets have been developed for experimental assault rifles, which break into two separate bullets as it travels down range. This concept should be used for .50 cal ammunition, which could split into four projectiles as it travels down range. Ideally, a round would splinter out to cover one square meter at 500 meters down range. One .50 cal firing splinter ammunition would prove as effective against infantry as four .50 cals firing ball ammo. Exploding rounds are less effective than splinter ammunition since they do not explode until impact, which may occur a hundred meters behind the intended target.

     Another option would be High Velocity Canister Cartridges like the 40mm Primex round (right) with a range in excess of 100 meters.  Primex should also consider a 20mm canister round for aircraft, and 25mm and 30mm rounds for automatic cannons.  A 20mm, 25mm, 30mm or 40mm automatic gun spewing out canister rounds would terrorize infantrymen.  

     Employing diverse ammunition is complicated since it takes time to change ammunition during combat. Therefore, "standard mix" belts of ammunition could alternate between high-explosive rounds, SLAP rounds for penetration, canister rounds, and incendiary rounds.  This mix of ammunition will make these guns far more effective against all types of targets.

                                      Carlton Meyer  editorG2mil@Gmail.com

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