Squad automatic weapon

A Squad automatic weapon (SAW, also known as section automatic weapon or light support weapon) is a weapon used to give infantry squads or sections automatic firepower that can easily be moved around. Weapons used for this are selective fire rifles. They usually have a bipod and a heavier barrel so that they can be used as light machine guns. SAWs usually fire the same cartridge as the assault rifles or battle rifles used by other people in the squad/section. This makes logistics easier because only one type of ammunition needs to be given to a unit. SAWs are light enough to be used by one man. However, heavy machine guns such as the Browning M2 are more powerful but need a crew to be as effective as they can be.

Overview
Many SAWs (such as the RPK and L86) are just assault rifles or battle rifles that have been changed. They may be able to carry more ammunition and will almost always have a bipod. In the case of some assault rifles, such as the H&K G36 or Steyr AUG, the SAW is simply the usual rifle with a few parts changed. However, the Austrian Army, who uses the most Steyr AUGs, doesn't use the HBAR (heavy barrel) version of the assault rifle. Instead, they use the MG 74, which is a gun which was made from the design of the German WW2-machine gun MG 42. One of the first weapons designed for this role was the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle. Even though it could not carry many bullets in its magazine, it was still better than the usual infantry rifle.

 Examples 
 Assault rifles 
HK 13E
QBB-95
RPK
INSAS LMG

 Battle rifles 
FN FALO 50.41
HK 11E
M1941 Johnson machine gun
Model 45A
M1946 Sieg automatic rifle

Related pages
 Light machine gun
 Heavy machine gun
 General-purpose machine gun

 Other websites 

Category:Light machine guns