Weapon Name- Mk. 242 "Annihilator"
Round Type- 15.5mm x 106mm
Over-all length- 2150 mm
Barrel length- 1500 mm
Weight- 50 Kg, 71.5KG Tri-pod
Rate of Fire- 800-1200 RPM (Selector Adjusted in 100 RPM increments)
Feed Mechanism- Dual belt
Round Capacity- 2000 rounds
Effective Range- 3200m (2 miles)
Range- 13120m (8.2 miles)
Accuracy- 2 MOA
Accessories- Picanty Rail above Dual Feed
Quick switch firing mechanism- N/A
Scope/Sights- Picanty Rail
Muzzle Velocity- 1032 m/s
Firing System-Conventional, gas operated action with rotating bolt, locking into the barrel extension. Dual feed, with two belts entering from the top of the receiver, and with bottom ejection port. Feed mode selector at the rear of the receiver, and, when used on tripod mount, a set of spade grips to control the gun.
Miscellaneous/electronic information- The gun is essentially modeled after the BRG-15, with a few modern improvements and increases in durability
Basic Information
First announced in October 1983, the BRG-15 was designed to replace aged Browning M2HB .50 cal (12.7mm) heavy machineguns, and was, probably, the most powerful machine gun ever made, outperforming even Soviet KPV 14.7mm. The BRG-15 could pierce 10mm of steel armor at 30 degrees at the distance of 1350 meters, or, in other words, capable to defeat armor of almost any APC at the distances of 1000 meters and beyond.
The BRG-15 had conventional, gas operated action with rotating bolt, locking into the barrel extension. It had the dual feed, with two belts entering from the top of the receiver, and with bottom ejection port. The gun had feed mode selector at the rear of the receiver, and, when used on tripod mount, a set of spade grips to control the gun. After the testing it was found that the 15mm ammunition caused fast barrel wear, so gun and ammunition had been redesigned: new bullets had driving bands to follow the rifling (like the large caliber artillery shells), and barrel caliber was increased to 15.5mm and barrel had been lenghtened.
In the final shape the BRG-15 was a very potent gun, but due to financial difficulties of the FN, the company decided to shelve this project in the early 1990s, in the favor of the P90 PDW / submachinegun
The concept reintroduced, a newer, more modern version of the previous weapon is hopefully presented by this one. It still uses most of the same features as the BRG-15, except with a few modifications aimed to increase the weapon's reliability, accuracy, and weapon life. As the previous weapon had problems with rifling and excessive wearing of the barrel, the newer version has a heavy, hammer forged polygonal barrel with a 16 groove 1 in 12 inch twist. The polygonal barrel helps to reduce barrel wear by removing the aspect of the rougher, grooved rifling tearing apart the barrel- an effect much like in artillery were the rounds require cross grooves to force the round down the barrel. While the rounds damage to the barrel is significantly reduced, the rounds are still somewhat obliquely shaped, to better fit the contour of the polygonal rifling. The ammunition is also an enlarged 15.5mm x 106mm round, instead of a 15mm x 115mm round, to reduce barrel wear.
While the rounds sheer kinetic energy and power is enough to allow it to get through most ordinary kinds of armor without specialized bullets, there are a large range of rounds available for the 15.5mm x 106mm to use, including lead-steel, Depleted Uranium, and incendiary explosive ammunition. Ironically, there are no specific "Armor Piercing" variants, as they are all inherently armor piercing rounds.
