Alternative for the Venerable
M2 .50cal/12.7mm
for Remote Weapon Station Integration:
M2 .50cal/12.7mm
for Remote Weapon Station Integration:
Rheinmetall RMG.50
The venerable 'Ma Deuce' has been the only heavy machine gun that has seen widespread service in western armies.
With the introduction of the remote weapon stations (RWS) and Remote Turrets, M2 immediately has been the weapon of choice for these systems because of its longer reach and high energy.
However, it is not a simple task to integrate M2 in a remote controlled system. The cocking mechanism and the trigger needs to be remotely controlled. This ended up, the M2 guns being equipped with linear actuators or ball screw mechanisms to perform charging and solenoids for remote trigger actuation. Some M2's in RWS systems even have remote safing mechanisms.
This resulted in some electric driven 12.7mm machine guns as an alternative to M2 for RWS installations. One of them is the Rheinmetall's RMG.50.
Rheinmetall RMG.50
Rheinmetall's development is called RMG.50 and the development started for German Army. The version for the German army is called SMG50 (Schwere Machinengewehr) and the export version is called RMG.50.
Main components are shown below:
The gun is electrically driven and it has a stronger muzzle and chamber than M2. This resulted the possibility of using a higher pressure cartridge than the standard 12.7mmx99 cartridge, which will enable 14.5mm cartridge lethality and range in a 12.7mm gun.
RMG50 on a RWS
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