Көпмақсатты пулемет: Тарихы мен қолданылуы

Machine gun adaptable for several light and medium roles

A general purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air cooled, usually belt fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick change barrel design calibered for various fully powered cartridges such as the 7.62×51mm NATO, 7.62×54mmR, 7.5×54mm French, 7.5×55mm Swiss and 7.92×57mm Mauser, and be configured for mounting to different stabilizing platforms from bipods and tripods to vehicles, aircraft, boats and fortifications, usually as an infantry support weapon or squad automatic weapon.

The general purpose machine gun (GPMG) originated with the MG 34, designed in 1934 by Heinrich Vollmer of Mauser on the commission of Nazi Germany to circumvent the restrictions on machine guns imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. It was introduced into the Wehrmacht as an entirely new concept in automatic firepower, dubbed the Einheitsmaschinengewehr, meaning "universal machine gun" in German. In itself the MG 34 was an excellent weapon for its time: an air cooled, recoil operated machine gun that could run through belts of 7.92×57mm Mauser ammunition at a rate of 850 rounds per minute, with lethality at ranges of more than 1,000 meters. The MG 42 was more efficient and cheaper to manufacture, and more robust, as well as having an extremely high cyclic rate of fire of 1,200 to 1,500 rounds per minute. Following the war the victorious Allied nations took an interest in the MG 34 and MG 42, influencing many post war general purpose machine guns, many still in use today. They lent design elements to the Belgian FN MAG and the American M60, while spawning the Zastava M53, Swiss M51, and Austrian MG 74. The MG 42's qualities of firepower and usability meant that it became the foundation of an entire series of postwar machine guns, including the MG 1 and MG 3; the latter, as of 2023, is still in production.