The M192 Lightweight Ground Mount is a tripod fielded by the
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...
. It was designed and developed by Capco, Incorporated under contract through
Picatinny Arsenal
The Picatinny Arsenal ( or ) is an American military research and manufacturing facility located on of land in Jefferson and Rockaway Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, encompassing Picatinny Lake and Lake Denmark. The Ar ...
to replace the
M122 tripod
The M2 Tripod is a U.S. machine gun tripod originally used with the Browning M1919 infantry machine gun. Since then, it has seen several redesigns, but remained largely the same. In this fashion, the M2 tripod has seen combat service in every conf ...
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
named the tripod one of 2005's top ten inventions. It was designed for use with the M249,
M240B
The M240 – officially the Machine Gun, 7.62 mm, M240 – is the U.S. military designation for the FN MAG, a family of belt-fed, gas-operated medium machine guns that chamber the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge.
The M240 has been used by the ...
At , the M192 is lighter than its predecessor.Department of the Army 10--M192 Light Weight Ground Mount 2009-02-25. Retrieved 2009-08-18. Unlike the M122, its rear legs are independently movable and stored in a forward position. Because of this design, there is no need for a locking bar connecting the two legs.
Additionally, the M192 features an integrated traversing and elevation (T&E) mechanism. Instead of the M122's ratcheting screw method of operation and locking traversing bar, the M192 uses a pair of levers, which unlock the gun's position. The levers are designed to allow the gunner to make "bold adjustments" or "minor adjustments", depending on how much pressure the gunner uses.Department of the Army
Due to its lighter weight and different configuration, it is claimed that machine gun crews can emplace the M192 more quickly than the M122.
Usage
The M192 began being fielded in 2005 and is part of the
Rapid Fielding Initiative
Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence.
Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade'' ...
.
See also
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M205 tripod
The M205 Lightweight Tripod for Heavy Machine Guns is the replacement for the current M3 tripod in support of the M2 machine gun and Mk 19 grenade launcher used in the United States armed forces. The soldier will experience less weight burden wi ...
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M2 tripod
The M2 Tripod is a U.S. machine gun tripod originally used with the Browning M1919 infantry machine gun. Since then, it has seen several redesigns, but remained largely the same. In this fashion, the M2 tripod has seen combat service in every con ...