TARGET ENGAGEMENT SPOTLIGHT
TARGET ENGAGEMENT SPOTLIGHT BY SCOTT R. GOURLEY As highlighted in last year’s Special Operations Outlook qUnited States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) acquisition planners continue a tradition of supplementing a range of traditional field experiments, technology demonstrations, and SOFWERX prize challenges, with an annual range event timed and located to coincide with the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show, held each January in Las Vegas, Nevada. The range event, which was held on the Nevada Test and Training Range, took place the weekend immediately prior to SHOT Show 2020. This year’s technologies of interest were highlighted in a Special Notice published on Aug. 9, 2019. Identified as “USSOCOM SOF Range Event,” the request for information was designed “to solicit technology experimentation candidates from Research and Development (R&D) organizations, private industry, and academia for inclusion in future experimentation events coordinated by the U.S. Special Operations Command. … The intent is to provide participants with the opportunity to gain special operations forces (SOF) insight/perspective on participant technologies.” Specifically identified theme categories included target engagement, visual augmentation systems, and demolitions and breaching. Target engagement elements of interest identified in the USSOCOM notice included a Lightweight Medium Machine Gun in .338 Norma Magnum (NM), a Lightweight Assault Machine Gun in 6.5 Creedmoor (CM) caliber, and a Personal Defense Weapon in .300 Blackout (BLK). Several examples of applicable industry target engagement designs were in the spotlight during SHOT Show week.
LIGHTWEIGHT MEDIUM MACHINE GUN According to the initial notice, the Lightweight Medium Machine Gun (LMG-M) in .338 NM is envisioned as a weapon to fill “a capability gap for dismounted operations between the M2 HMG [Heavy Machine Gun] and M240 MMG [Medium Machine Gun]. “This capability will supplement but not replace the HMG chambered in .50 caliber and MMG chambered in 7.62 NATO,” the announcement explained, noting “desired threshold performance criteria” ranging from the ability to outperform the current MMG by delivering effective suppression on a point target at 1,200 meters to
u A SIG Sauer MG 338, with spare suppressed barrel, seen at the SHOT Show SOF Range Event.
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Special Operations Outlook
