AA-52
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The ''AA-52'' (full designation in French: ''Arme Automatique Transformable Modèle 1952'', "Transformable automatic weapon model 1952") is one of the first French-produced guns of the post–World War II era. It was manufactured by the French government-owned
Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne The ''Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', often abbreviated to MAS ("Saint-Étienne Weapons Factory" in English) was a French state-owned weapons manufacturer in the town of Saint-Étienne, Loire. Founded in 1764, it was merged into the ...
(MAS) company. The AA-52 is still used today as a vehicle-mounted weapon due to large quantities in service, but has been replaced in the helicopter role by the Belgian
FN MAG The FN MAG is a Belgian 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale (FN) by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries and it has been made under licence in several countries, inc ...
, starting with the EC 725 Caracal of the special operations units and the Air Force
search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
teams. The AA-52 had been largely phased out for infantry use in favour of the lighter FN Minimi but remains in use.


History

The AA-52 general-purpose machine gun was conceived and developed following the French military's experiences in the First Indochina War during the early 1950s. At that time, the French army was equipped with an assortment of weapons from British and American sources, as well as some German weapons from the Second World War. Effective supply of ammunition and replacement parts was an almost insoluble task and the army decided to adopt a standard machine gun. The result was the AA-52, conceived for ease of production. The construction is of simple welded stamped sheet steel. The AA-52 was partially withdrawn from the service of the French army in 2008. It was replaced in the 2010s by 10,881
FN MAG The FN MAG is a Belgian 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale (FN) by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries and it has been made under licence in several countries, inc ...
general-purpose machine guns.


Design

The AA-52 is a peculiar weapon among modern machine guns because it uses lever-delayed blowback operation, also seen in the FAMAS rifle, manufactured at the same factory. When firing, the pressure pushing the case head rearward initiates an impulse on a cam that sends the bolt carrier rearward. After a certain distance, a link (in this case the firing pin) pulls the bolt head, hence extracting the spent case. Since there is no primary extraction, the chamber is fluted to allow powder gases to flow back, unsticking the case from the chamber wall as with Heckler & Koch–type
roller-delayed blowback Blowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains energy from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gas created by the ignition of the propellant charge. Several blowback systems exist wit ...
weapons. The feed and trigger mechanisms are derived from the
MG 42 The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enterin ...
. The AA-52 can be used as a light machine gun with a bipod or as a heavy machine gun with a tripod. When used with a tripod for continuous fire, the gun is fitted with a heavier barrel. In the light machine gun configuration, the AA-52 is a relatively light weapon to carry. The AA-52 can be fired from the shoulder, but this is slightly awkward because of the position of the handle; however, the bipod can be used as a handguard when not in use. The barrel is changed by pressing a latch and rotating it a quarter of a turn. The APX(SOM) telescopic sight used on the
MAS-49 The MAS-49 is a French semi-automatic rifle that replaced various bolt-action rifles as the French service rifle that was produced from 1949. It was designed and manufactured by the government-owned MAS arms factory.Huon, Jean; ''Proud Promise— ...
and the
FR-F1 The FR F1 is a French sniper rifle manufactured by the Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne (''MAS''); one of several government-owned arms factories in France. The FR F1 was France's first purpose-built precision rifle for sharpshooters. Introd ...
sniper rifle can be mounted on the AA-52 as well as an infrared night sight. File:Mitrailleuse-IMG 1730.jpg File:Machine gun p1040625.jpg File:Motte-Picquet-ANF1.jpg File:Porte ouverte 18RT-15 juin 2009 arme militaire03.jpg, AA-52 machine gun on display.


Variants


NF-1

The AA-52 originally used the standard
7.5×54mm French The 7.5×54mm French, 7.5 French, or 7.5 MAS (designated as the 7,5 × 54 MAS by the C.I.P.) is a rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed by France as an update to the 7.5×57mm MAS mod. 1924 cartridge. It replaced the obsolete 8 ...
cartridge. The general adoption of the
7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first been introduced in U.S. service fo ...
cartridge reduced the opportunity for export sales, and the gun was adapted for this standard NATO calibre.


MAC-58

The MAC-58 was a version of the AA-52 chambered in .50 BMG. A few prototypes were tested and one retained for preserial production, but it never reached production due to the large quantity of US M2 Browning machine guns already in service with the French armed forces.


Users

* * : Twin AA-52 machine guns were found in Fouga Magister attack aircraft. * * * * * * * * * : ''F1'' variant. * * : used some ''ANF1'' to protect
Camp Warehouse Camp Warehouse was a International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021). It was located 10 km east of Kabul, Kabul Province in Afghanistan. Initially constructed by German soldiers, Camp Warehouse was ...
, Afghanistan, under French command. * : AAT-F1 variant mounted on AMX-10 PAC 90 of Korps Marinir. * : Twin AA-52 7.62mm machine guns were fitted to the Irish Panhard AML 60-7 CS armoured cars. * * mounted on VAB mephisto * * : Armed and Security Forces of Mali * * : ''F1'' variant. * * * * * *


References


External links


AAT Mod.52 / Mod. F1
at Modern Firearms {{DEFAULTSORT:Aa-52 Machine Gun 7.5×54mm French firearms 7.62×51mm NATO machine guns General-purpose machine guns Infantry weapons of the Cold War Lever-delayed blowback firearms Machine guns of France Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1952