National Guard units are beginning to receive the Army’s new automatic rifle replacement, the M250.

Though a number of active duty units are already using the M250, the Minnesota guard’s 34th Infantry Division was “among the first” guard units to bring it online, Army officials announced in a release. Soldiers learned the basics and began training with the new automatic rifle at earlier this month at Camp Ripley, the unit’s training base.

The M250 machine gun replaces the M249 as the heaviest and most powerful weapon carried by individual infantry squads. Generally, one member of a squad carries the weapon and, in combat, is tasked with providing covering fire for other squad members as they maneuver with lighter rifles.

The machine gun is one of two new weapons the Army is fielding tha

See Full Page