The mounted and general-purpose machine guns are capable to defeat different fire means and enemy manpower in the open and behind light shelters at ranges of up to 1,500 m. The recoil of the weapon during the fire delivery are absorbed by the mount which leads to its steadiness and ease of operation. The steadiness, heavy detachable barrel and considerable capacity of the cartridge-belt ensure the aimed firing in long bursts. The effective rate of fire is equal to 250-300 rounds per minute.
The design of the mount enables users to quickly and precisely shift the fire from one target to another and deliver fire due to pre-set data and to engage air targets. Naturally, this weapon is heavier than light machine guns: the machine gun installed on the tripod weighs 10-20 kg, the machine gun on a wheeled mount (old obsolete versions) weighs some 40 kg or even more. The machine gun crew usually consists of two men. The change of fire emplacement takes two or three times more as compared to a light machine gun.
The so-called general-purpose machine guns proved to be more promising owing to the fact that they combined the qualities of both mounted and light machine guns. The general-purpose machine guns retain the fire capabilities of the mounted machine guns and enhanced ease of operation or mobility due to the light a tripod (general-purpose machine gun with a mount weighs 12-25 kg) and ability to deliver fire from a bipod (weight of a machine gun mounted on a bipods weighs 7-9 kg). The fire is being delivered from the a pod at ranges of up to 800 m. The general-purpose machine guns feature large capabilities to defeat hostile fire means, manpower, low flying and hovering air targets.
Inasmuch as the energy of low-pulse submachine gun cartridges do not permit to deliver effective fire at ranges exceeding 600 m then the general-purpose machine guns chambered for rifle cartridges continue to retain solid positions in the system of infantry armaments. The "combined" nature of these machine guns enables them to be mounted (after some updating) on tanks, armored vehicles and combat-transport helicopters. The Soviet PKM and Belgium MAG are considered to be the best general-purpose machine guns.
The attempts are being made to develop the general-purpose machine guns chambered for low-impulse small caliber cartridges (like the Spanish machine gun "Emily" or the Israeli "Negev". Such machine guns could be "segregated in weight category" of light machine guns. Actually, they are being used in the capacity of the light weapon of fire support in air-borne and reconnaissance-subversion subunits. In some armies of the world the general-purpose machine guns are being used instead of the light machine guns. A number of specialists maintain that in the near future the light machine gun may "fall out" from the armament system due to enhance of the low dispersion shot pattern of assault rifles and submachine guns, from the one side, and lightening of the general-purpose machine guns, from the other side. However, the light machine guns still retain their importance and their positions. The light tripods with an alternative height of the line of sight and the devices of laying angels in traverse and elevation took the upper hand among many designs of the field mounts, among other things the fire against air targets is not mandatory, if only because in a number of armies they prefer firing against air targets from special weapons.
The combat performance of the machine guns is widely enhanced by the updated sights, including optical, collimating, night and combined sights. The optical and collimator sights become more common ones for machine guns.
The reduction of weight of the general-purpose machine guns and enhancement of accuracy in firing from the bipods remains the most important trend in their improvement. The most important point to bear in mind is the fact that a machine gun crew have to carry the machine gun itself and ammunition load in addition to the submachine gun-grenade launcher complex, hand grenades and projectiles (grenades) for the complex.
