page_title: FN Minimi
section_title: Variants
hierarchical_section_title: FN Minimi / Variants
caption_attribution_description: English: Early warning. A soldier from the Special Operations Task Group keeps watch from the roof of a quala during a patrol in southern Afghanistan.
context_page_description: The FN Minimi is a Belgian 5.56mm Squad Automatic Weapon, or SAW developed by Fabrique Nationale in Herstal by Ernest Vervier. First introduced in the late 1970s, it is now in service in more than 75 countries. The weapon is currently manufactured at the FN facility in Herstal and their U.S. subsidiary FN Manufacturing LLC.
  The Minimi is a SAW that fires from an open bolt. It is an air-cooled weapon that is capable of fully automatic fire only. It can be belt fed or fired from a magazine. The Minimi is configured in several variants: the Standard model as a platoon or squad support weapon, the Para version for paratroopers and the Vehicle model as secondary armament for fighting vehicles.
caption: Australian special operations soldier with a Minimi 7.62 TR Sliding Butt in Afghanistan, 2009.
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