Machine Gun Employment and Capabilities

• Displacement of a Support By Fire (SBF) position may be required if supporting fires are masked by the supporting unit.
• The MG employment principle addressing ammo consumption and maximizing fire effectiveness is economy of rounds.
• ADDRAC stands for Alert, Direction, Description, Range, Assignment, Control.
• MORT stands for Method, Objective, Route, Time.
• Methods of displacement include Echelon and Unit.
• The preferred method of employment in the offense is by section.
• Two missions assignable to a Machine Gun in the defense are PRF and FPL.
• Characteristics of fire include burst of fire, trajectory, cone of fire, beaten zone, dead space, and danger space.

M240 Rates of Fire

• Sustained rate: 100 RPM, 6-8 round bursts, pause of 4-5 seconds, barrel change every 10 minutes
• Rapid rate: 200 RPM, 6-8 round bursts, pause of 2-3 seconds, barrel change every 2 minutes
• Cyclic rate: 550-650 RPM, barrel change every 1 minute

M2A1 Rates of Fire

• Sustained rate: 40 or fewer RPM, 6-9 round bursts, pause of 10-15 seconds, barrel change at the end of the day
• Rapid rate: More than 40 RPM, 6-9 round bursts, pause of 5-10 seconds, barrel change every hour
• Cyclic rate: 450-600 RPM, barrel change every 30 minutes

MK19 Rates of Fire

• Sustained rate: 40 RPM, 6-9 round bursts, pause of 10-15 seconds
• Rapid rate: 60 RPM, 6-9 round bursts, pause of 8-10 seconds
• Cyclic rate: 325-375 RPM

Classes of Fire

• With respect to ground: Grazing and Plunging
• With respect to target: Frontal, Flanking, Oblique, Enfilade
• With respect to gun: Fixed, Traversing, Searching, Searching & Traversing, Swinging Traverse, Free Gun
• The prescribed distance for MSL's is 15 degrees.
• When conducting overhead fire on undulating/un-level terrain, the methods to establish an OSL is Gunner Leader Rule.

Weapon Max Ranges

• M240 Point: 800m
• M240 Area: 1800m
• M240 Max Effective: 1800m
• M2A1 Point: 1500m
• M2A1 Area: 1830m
• M2A1 Max Effective: 1830m
• MK19 Point: 1500m
• MK19 Area: 2212m
• MK19 Max Effective: 2212m
• Swinging traverse fire is used to suppress a target that requires major changes in direction but not elevation.
• Fixed fire is used on a point target that requires little to no manipulation.
• Flanking fire is delivered against the flank of a target, or at the side or rear of an enemy formation
• Enfilade fire is where the long axis of the beaten zone coincides or nearly coincides with he long axis of the target.
• Grazing fire happens When the center of the cone of fire doesn't rise more than 1 meter above the ground
• Fires in support of maneuver are beyond maneuver.
• Fires in support of isolation target maneuver units' immediate objective during the assault
• Fires in support of consolidation happen when units are most vulnerable to enemy counterattack. Fires in support of the assault are delivered against the most immediate & serious threat to it.
• Long range fires interdict and disrupt the enemy before they become a threat
• Fires identified as FPL that can only be fired when authorized by the unit commander are FPF.
• Close defensive fires address the immediate threat to the units defense, primary EA.

Explore machine gun support tactics, displacement strategies, and ammunition management. Learn about rates of fire, mission assignments, and key characteristics of fire. Understand ADDRAC and MORT acronyms.