The Japanese Ministry of Protection (MoD) has chosen Belgian firearms producer Fabrique Nationale (FN) Herstal’s Minimi Mk 3 gentle machine weapons (LMGs), because the Minimi (B), to fill the shortfall within the procurement of the 5.56 mm Minimi Mk1 at present produced below licence by Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) for the Japan Floor Self-Protection Power (JGSDF). International open-source intelligence firm Janes reported that the nation will procure 514 Minimis for JPY920 million (USD6.88 million) and 182 G28 E2 snipers valued at JPY1.13 billion in 2024. The fashions are scheduled to be publicly introduced in FY fiscal yr 2023. The Japanese MoD introduced in February 2023 that it’ll buy 3,100 Minimis price JPY14.9 billion to interchange the Sumitomo Heavy Industries-produced Minimi Mk 1 weapons in service with the JGSDF.
Minimi Mk 1 is manufactured below license by Sumitomo Heavy Industries. The Japan Acquisition, Know-how & Logistics Company (ATLA) signed a contract with Sumitomo subsidiary Sumisho Aero-Methods to introduce 4 FN Minimi Mk3 weapons in February 2020. However Sumitomo Heavy Industries withdrawing from machine gun manufacturing, the Minimi Mk3 is being procured straight from FN in Belgium. On January 2023, the FN-made Minimi MK3 was chosen and designed as MINIMI(B). A bonus in deciding on the Minimi Mk 3 is that it shares the identical barrel because the Minimi Mk1. Moreover, new anti-heat luggage for spare barrels to permit the weapon crew to reposition whereas carrying sizzling barrels, and dustproof service luggage which weren’t adopted for the Mk1), will probably be included within the buy.
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The FN Minimi (quick for French: Mini Mitrailleuse; “mini machine gun”) is a Belgian 5.56mm gentle machine gun/squad computerized weapon developed by Ernest Vervier for FN Herstal. Launched within the late Seventies, it’s in service in additional than 75 nations. The weapon is manufactured on the FN facility in Herstal and their U.S. subsidiary FN Manufacturing LLC. The Minimi fires from an open bolt. It’s an air-cooled, fuel operated long-stroke piston weapon that’s able to totally computerized hearth solely. It may be belt fed or fired from {a magazine}. The Minimi is configured in a number of variants: the Customary mannequin as a platoon or squad assist weapon, the Para model for paratroopers and the Automobile mannequin as secondary armament for combating automobiles.
In November 2013, FN Herstal unveiled the improved Mk3 model of the Minimi gentle machine gun. It may be transformed to fireside both 5.56×45mm or 7.62×51mm rounds. The inventory is 5-position adjustable that can be adjustable for cheek relaxation peak with a folding shoulder relaxation and hydraulic buffer. The feed tray has retaining pawls to carry ammunition from the belt in place whereas loading. The handguard has three ahead picatinny rails. A brand new bipod is 3-position peak adjustable and seamlessly integrates into the form of the handguard when folded again no matter equipment which may be connected. Others options embody a extra ergonomic cocking deal with and an non-compulsory warmth protect, enabled by an added on lengthy pin, to guard from barrel warmth. Customers that have already got Minimi machine weapons can partially or fully improve their current weapons with the Mk3 options.
