USMC Amphibious Assault Vehicle Tactical Trainer Replica Weapons
United States Marine Corps Assault Vehicle
Project Overview: Under this project for USMC armored vehicle trainer, ACME furbished M2 (.50 Caliber machine gun) and Mk19 (40mm belt fed grenade launcher) weapons and provided a variant of ACME’s patented Gun Active Recoil GAR® electro-mechanical recoil system. The refurbished weapons and recoil system provide a realistic, immersive gunnery training environment.
Company: Wegmann USA
Year of Contract: 2013
Deliverables: ACME provided refurbished 16 M2 & 16 Mk-19 weapons and converted the weapons from the legacy pneumatic recoil to ACME’s electro-mechanical recoil system. ACME provided a turret-mounted recoil system that provided full force recoil at weapon rate of fire. The recoil system applied the recoil force directly to the turret shell to emulate the effects of the weapons firing. The single recoil system replicated the recoil for either weapon. The recoil system was instantly selectable between weapon types to provide proper force and rate of fire for each weapon. ACME also delivered an electric ammunition feed system for the cycled replica ammunition from the ammunition canisters, across the turret chutes and to then through the weapons. The feed system cycled the ammunition through the each weapon at the as-actual rate of fire. The feed system also included and feature that emulated the method of feeding the Mk19 ammunition into the turret by an external armorer.
The refurbished weapons included I/O sensors to enable instructor control and monitoring of the system. In addition, the trainer system included:
- GAR® Manager application for enabling full control of weapon status, malfunctions, and I/O feedback.
- Ammunition release
- Azimuth and elevation encoders that signaled the weapon position
- Electric ammunition feed that cycled ammunition belt through the M2 and Mk-19 replica weapon at full fire rates.
Status: Delivered & in training