M240 Medium Machine Gun Successor Now Being Sought By U.S. Army

A replacement for the M240 under the Future Medium Machine Gun program could offer infantry and other units greater range and terminal ballistics.

by Joseph Trevithick
Jul 10, 2025 1:34 PM EDT

The U.S. Army is now formally working toward replacing at least a portion of its 7.62x51mm M240 machine guns. Earlier this year, the service had expressed interest in a new machine gun chambered for the .338 Norma Magnum cartridge, which would offer considerably greater range than existing M240s. It has also been looking at rechambering M240s to fire the same 6.8x51mm ammunition as its new M7 rifles and M250 light machine guns, or even replacing some of those guns directly with M250s.

The Army’s recently released proposed budget for the 2026 Fiscal Year includes a request for funding for a new Future Medium Machine Gun (FMMG) program. How much money the service is seeking for FMMG in the next fiscal cycle is unclear, as the effort is contained within a larger line item covering various small arms and individual gear...

Complete article with photos:

https://www.twz.com/land/m240-...g-sought-by-u-s-army

My prediction: Another goatf&$k will ensue just like every small arms trial in the history of US small arms. A very costly selection process will occur. A new MMG will be selected. Manufacturers whose gun was not selected will contest and add more cost to the tax payer. The newly selected MMG will offer no real improvements over the 240 other than caliber. The new caliber will cost 12x that of M80A1. The new MMG will be fielded, have a number of issues that were not present on trial guns and the new MMG will be sidelined with no further purchases made and the 240 Lima will continue to be fielded.

Couple pages of discussion here: https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...0601935/m/5670031415

Maybe they should just get the IWI Negev. The M240 design is from about the late 1950’s.

quote:

Originally posted by dubagel:
Maybe they should just get the IWI Negev. The M240 design is from about the late 1950’s.

Here’s a question for you:
Does the design work?

Is it a reliable and durable design in all different climates? Light enough for some poor Grunt to hump around, versatile enough to also be mounted on a tripod, on top of a light vehicle, or on a helicopter? Will it be chambered in a NATO caliber (ammo readily available)? Simple enough for a 19yo high-school dropout to effectively operate in a high stress environment?

Granted, there’s not much now that takes 7.62 on the .Mil side of the house, and I know that .Mil is looking at other calibers. It’s nice to know that if I’m running low, I can grab a Machine Gunner and get some ammo for a DMR.

Just because it’s an old design, doesn’t mean it’s not applicable to today’s and tomorrow’s battlefield.
John Browning’s stuff is still chugging along: The beloved “Maw-Duce” M-2 .50cal machine gun has been around since the early 1930’s and doesn’t seem to be getting phased out.

I truly hope SIG doesn’t manage to get a foothold in on this contract with more of their dazzling BS followed by weapons that fall far short of their marketing hype. I remember thinking that the Ohio Ordnance design seemed pretty cool when I read an article about these guns in a Recoil magazine some months back. I’d love to see FN enter into the competition as well. It would absolutely be cool to have a company, other than SIG, win the competition that also markets to the civilian market. That way maybe some ideas might make their way to the civilian marketplace and perhaps some ideas from the civilian marketplace could positively impact military variants going forward as well.

I don't necessarily think this particular gun is the answer (KAC has some of the slickest belt-feds I've seen), but I think this video is fun...



On the KAC note: the LAMG is already in use by SOF, so the AMG seems a shoe-in.

It's been mentioned already, and I agree: I have always thought the Negev was compelling.

quote:

Originally posted by Lt CHEG:
I truly hope SIG doesn’t manage to get a foothold in on this contract with more of their dazzling BS followed by weapons that fall far short of their marketing hype. I remember thinking that the Ohio Ordnance design seemed pretty cool when I read an article about these guns in a Recoil magazine some months back. I’d love to see FN enter into the competition as well. It would absolutely be cool to have a company, other than SIG, win the competition that also markets to the civilian market. That way maybe some ideas might make their way to the civilian marketplace and perhaps some ideas from the civilian marketplace could positively impact military variants going forward as well.

This x100.

quote:

Originally posted by KSGM:
I don't necessarily think this particular gun is the answer (KAC has some of the slickest belt-feds I've seen), but I think this video is fun...



On the KAC note: the LAMG is already in use by SOF, so the AMG seems a shoe-in.

It's been mentioned already, and I agree: I have always thought the Negev was compelling.

The KAC offerings are light assault MGs, not for sustained fire.

Yep, hopefully not another boondoggle by the DOD but hopefully a NATO round instead of some boutique cartridge that costs .95 per round for slinging lead....
That HK is bad ass!!!

quote:

The KAC offerings are light assault MGs, not for sustained fire.

We know that about the 5.56 LAMG, but do we really know it about the AMG? I don't know that they've ever really manufactured the AMG; perhaps merely advertised the capability. Surely the AMG could be produced in a way that would enable its fulfilling a proper MG role.

From what little info is out there, pertaining specifically to the AMG (which may or may not be credible)...

"The AMG variant can be configured to fire 6.5mm Creedmoor as well as .260 Remington, 6.8mm PCP Ammunition polymer case-metal cartridge or .277 True Velocity polymer cased ammo."

One would think that if they bothered to even theorize chambering the gun for those calibers, they'd design it for sustained fire.

HK MG5 maybe?

I got to handle one when I was at their facility in Georgia for an armorers course. Seemed like a well thought out platform.

quote:

Originally posted by JoshNC:
My prediction: Another goatf&$k will ensue just like every small arms trial in the history of US small arms. A very costly selection process will occur. A new MMG will be selected. Manufacturers whose gun was not selected will contest and add more cost to the tax payer. The newly selected MMG will offer no real improvements over the 240 other than caliber. The new caliber will cost 12x that of M80A1. The new MMG will be fielded, have a number of issues that were not present on trial guns and the new MMG will be sidelined with no further purchases made and the 240 Lima will continue to be fielded.

OMG!! Get out of my head, now!!

Meanwhile, those numerous countries who STILL use the MG42/MG3 or copy thereof are peeing themselves laffin'.

Wouldn't that be the belt fed version of the M7? it was after all called the "Next Generation Squad Weapon" trials