Zarvan
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The FN FAL (Fusil Automatique Leger - Light Automatic Rifle) is one of the most famous and widespread military rifle designs of the twentieth century. Developed by the Belgian Fabrique Nationale company
by Koustav K
Along the Indo-Pak border, where terrorist activities are at its peak, 7.62mm assault rifle plays an important role in the theater of action is very small and their targets are usually a small group of terrorists or insurgents. In such a case they want to eliminate their enemy than slow them down.
In a conventional war many armies prefer to use the 5.56mm bullets because they want to slow down the enemy by shooting at one but disengaging 2 to 3 soldiers whereas, during counterinsurgency operations, they always prefer to use 7.62mm bullets.
The India-China border where transportation is a big challenge, difficult to breath due to low oxygen, carrying a heavy 7.62x51mm ammunition is difficult. In such critical areas, the quantity of ammunition matters a lot. A 4g of 5.56x45mm case length is 44.70mm compared to a 12g 7.62x51mm with a case length of 51.20mm is very difficult to carry during a conventional war.
In mid-2008, FN Herstal introduced the SCAR® assault rifles, chambered in 7.62x51mm caliber and the 40x46mm enhanced grenade launcher module
5.56mm is vastly lighter, both for the ammunition and the associated weapons system. A soldier can carry roughly 3 times as much 5.56mm as 7.62mm. So a target miss from 7.62x51mm caliber bullet results loss of 3 numbers of 5.56x45mm caliber bullet which could easily injure multiple targets if not kill.
Smaller round means easier on the logistics, simply because they are smaller and take less space to transport. So the same convoy is going to be able to either transport more rounds or more space for other equipment or personnel.
The Excalibur Assault Rifle
5.56x45mm compared to 7.62x51mm caliber is relatively small sized, light weight, the high velocity that produces relatively low thrust, free recoil impulse and automatic fire accuracy which increases hit probability. There were concerns that the 7.62x51mm rounds were too powerful, too large, too heavy, exert too much recoil for light infantry weapons making it difficult to operate during a conventional war where the scenario is totally opposite to counterinsurgency operations that wounding the enemy as much as possible.
The 7.62x51mm will cost more per round because it represents more components. The cost of the 5.56mm may be a bit lower than the component costs due to the volume of 5.56 ammo produced. 5.56mm is also abundant & produced by many NATO countries, unlike 7.62mm.
“The lethality, of course, also depends on where a bullet hits.”
Koustav K is an ardent fan of IDN and a keen defense enthusiast. This piece on the Indian Armed forces preferred Assault Rifle was written exclusively for IDN. Views expressed are his own.
Admin - IDN
http://www.indiandefensenews.in/2016/08/idn-take-is-762x51mm-calibre-assault.html?m=1
And also, I found it to be somewhat more difficult to aim with at 400 meter since the rifles had to be aimed so high to compensate for more parabolic trajectory of the round, that one would pretty much lose sight of the target.
