Editing Squad automatic weapon (section)

===United States===
[[File:PEO M249 Para ACOG.jpg|thumb|right|M249 Para]]

In United States usage, the [[M249 light machine gun]] is commonly referred to as the squad automatic weapon or SAW.<ref name="Talon970801">{{cite news|last1=Boe|first1=David|date=August 1, 1997|title=Mission Continues|url= http://www.dtic.mil/bosnia/talon/tal19970801.pdf|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20000815221239/http://www.dtic.mil/bosnia/talon/tal19970801.pdf|url-status= dead|archive-date= August 15, 2000|format=PDF|newspaper=The Talon|volume=3|issue=31|location=Eagle Base, Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina |publisher=1st Infantry Division (Task Force Eagle) Public Affairs Office|publication-date=August 1, 1997|page=6|access-date=November 27, 2013|quote= Sitting atop the platoon leader's HMMWV, the 20-year-old soldier mans a Squad Assault Weapon and monitors traffic at the crossroads.}}</ref><ref name="GBGAS2007">{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Jack|editor=Ken Ramage|title=The Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HyF_GKQdPXgC&pg=PA14|edition=7th|date=September 12, 2007|publisher=Gun Digest Books|location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn=978-1-4402-2652-6|pages=14, 74, 156, 245|access-date=November 27, 2013|quote=When it comes to machine guns, FNH USA is turning out copies of the M249 Squad Assault Weapon (SAW) that has been in the US military inventory for several decades.}}</ref>

In the 1970s the United States began realizing that it might have to fight a conflict in the deserts and mountains of the Middle East or Near East rather than the jungles of Asia or forests of Europe and Eurasia. The ''Squad Automatic Weapon'' program was designed to create an intermediate weapon between the M16 rifle and [[M60 machine gun]]. It would have to fire tracer ammunition out to a visible range of 800 meters or more, be capable of accurate high-volume sustained fire, and be lighter and more reliable than the M60. Initially the contenders were built around a new intermediate cartridge, but the problems with approval for a new third American-backed standard NATO cartridge forced its abandonment. The program then selected between the control group weapons: the [[FN Minimi]] (XM249) and [[Heckler & Koch HK 23]] (XM262) chambered for the improved 5.56mm SS109 round. The FN Minimi was adopted as the M249 because it could optionally fire from magazines from an integral magazine port rather than requiring an exchange of parts in the field like the HK23.

The [[Infantry automatic rifle]] program was launched by the [[United States Marine Corps]] in 2005. Its task was to find a replacement for the heavy and cumbersome M249 SAW that was serving as the Squad Automatic weapon in a fireteam at the time. Two of the weapons in the competition were the [[FN SCAR#HAMR IAR|FN SCAR HAMR]] and a slightly modified [[HK416]]. The weapon chosen to replace the [[M249]] was the modified HK416, later designated the [[M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle|M27 IAR]]. The M249 SAW is still in use as a squad automatic weapon by the [[United States Army|US Army]].

In 2019, US Army launched [[Next Generation Squad Weapon Program]] to find replacement for M249 SAW and replacement for [[5.56×45mm NATO]] round. There are three competitors:

* [[SIG Sauer MG-6.8]] with 6.8mm SIG hybrid round, declared winner of the program as the [[XM250]]
* [[General Dynamics RM277-AR]] with .277 TVCM polymer cased round manufactured by [[True Velocity]]
* [[AAI Corporation|AAI]] and [[Textron]] AR with 6.8mm CT cased telescoped round manufactured by [[Olin Winchester]]