The M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, formally the Light Machine Gun 5.56 mm M249, is an adaptation by the United States military of the Belgian FN Minimi light machine gun. Adopted in 1982 and issued to the Army from 1984 and the Marine Corps from 1985, it was designed to give an infantry squad sustained automatic fire with the rate of a machine gun and the portability of a rifle. It is gas operated and air cooled, has a quick change barrel, and can fire from a linked ammunition belt or accept the same STANAG magazines used in the M16 and M4.
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