The FN Minimi Light Machine Gun: M249, L108A1, L110A2, and other variants (Weapon, 53)

In 1974, renowned Belgian arms company Fabrique Nationale brought out a groundbreaking new light machine gun, the Minimi. Its success has been meteoric, arming more than forty-five countries around the world.

The Minimi offers the ultimate in portable squad firepower. Firing the high-velocity 5.56-by-45-millimeter round, the Minimi is a gas-fired, lightweight, open-bolt weapon, able to burn through cartridges at a cyclical rate of up to 1,150 rounds per minute, making it the weapon of choice for tactical support at squad or platoon level.

This study uses gripping firsthand accounts and striking combat photographs, following the Minimi to war zones, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. It tracks its design and development, as well as investigating what has made it so compelling a choice for armed forces around the world for more than forty years.

Chris McNab is an author and editor specializing in military history and military technology. To date he has published more than 40 books, including A History of the World in 100 Weapons (2011), Deadly Force (2009) and Tools of Violence (2008). He is the contributing editor of Hitler's Armies: A History of the German War Machine 1939–45 (2011) and Armies of the Napoleonic Wars (2009). Chris has also written extensively for major encyclopedia series, magazines and newspapers, and he lives in South Wales, UK.

Johnny Shumate works as a freelance illustrator living in Nashville, Tennessee. He began his career in 1987 after graduating from Austin Peay State University. Most of his work is rendered in Adobe Photoshop using a Cintiq monitor. His greatest influences are Angus McBride, Don Troiani, and Édouard Detaille.

Alan Gilliland, a contributor to more than 70 Osprey titles, notably in the Weapon series, writes, illustrates and publishes fiction (www.ravensquill.com), as well as illustrating for a variety of publishers (alangillilandillustration.blogspot.com).