The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded FN America an additional $6.9 million contract for M240 and M249 machine gun barrels. The agreement specifies nine U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Land and Maritime deliveries.
“The contract to provide these barrels for M240 and M249 machine guns is a testament to our partnership with the U.S. DoD, which dates back nearly five decades,” said Mark Cherpes, president and CEO for FN America. “We are honored to support the U.S. military with the highest-quality cold hammer-forged barrels. The durability and accuracy of FN barrels provide our servicemen and women with the most effective and highest-performing products available.”
FN is a key partner of DLA Land and Maritime, which is a combat-support agency within the U.S. DoD and one of the largest suppliers of spare parts that support land-based and maritime weapon systems. DLA Land and Maritime serves more than 20,000 customers throughout all U.S. military branches, civil agencies and other DoD organizations, helping to sustain weapon systems in the field.
In July the U.S. Army awarded FN America with a $4.9 million contract for M240L medium machine guns. The 7.62 NATO-chambered gun is one of the many members of the M240 general-purpose machine gun family, which was derived from the FN MAG 58.
Throughout its history, FN has been one of the largest suppliers of small arms to the U.S. military. In addition to the M240 and its variants, the company currently holds contracts for the FN M249 lightweight machine gun, the FN MK 46, MK 48, MK 17 and MK 20 SSR for USSOCOM, among others.
The M240 was adopted by the U.S. military in the late 1970s and has been in continual service since being introduced. Since then, FN has introduced multiple variants, including the M240 coaxial, the M240B, M240L, M240D and M240H models. The FN M249 has been a mainstay throughout the U.S. military since 1986 and is currently in service in more than 30 countries.
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