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The XM806 Lightweight .50 Caliber Machine Gun was a prototype .50 caliber light machine gun, developed by Armament and Technical products branch of the U.S.-based General Dynamics corporation to replace the M2 Browning heavy machine gun.
History[]
Spun off from the canceled XM312 in 2008, the XM806 was designed by General Dynamics' Armament and Technical (now known as Ordnance and Tactical) branch as a means to supplant the storied M2 Browning, who received a $9 Million USD contract for it. Originally expected to be deployed at the end of fiscal 2012, delays caused deployment to be pushed back to 2013 and 2014, before being canceled altogether in June 2012; the Army would then use that money to upgrade their M2s to M2A1 specification.
Design details[]
The XM806 used the same "differential firing" mechanism as the cancelled XM312 and XM307 ACSW. Using modern materials, it was 49% lighter than the M2 and had 60% less recoil. Unfortunately it suffered from the same problem of the differential firing system's extremely low cyclic fire rate: XM806 could only manage 265 rounds per minute, only 5 rpm faster than the XM312 which had already been rejected for firing too slowly. The XM806 also made a few ergonomic improvements to elements such as user safety and it was made easier to disassemble.