| « | The L7A2 is a British designation for the Belgian 7.62mm belt- fed general purpose machine gun FN MAG. It can be carried by foot soldiers and employed as a mounted light machine gun. It is used mainly by the Paras and Royal Marines these days. Armoury Description
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| L7A2 GPMG 7.62 mm | |
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| Faction |  British Army
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| Type | General-Purpose Machine Gun |
| Calibre | 7.62×51 mm NATO |
| Magazine capacity |
100 |
| Dispersion | 0.0008 rad |
| Variants | L7A2 Minitripod |
| Games |  |
The L7A2 GPMG is a 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun used exclusively by the British Army in ArmA 2. It was added with the release of the British Armed Forces DLC.
Overview
The L7A2 is a gas operated medium machine gun that uses an open bolt design. It is chambered to fire the 7.62×51 mm NATO cartridge.
It loads from 100-round belt cloth boxes, is able to achieve a fire rate of up to 846 rounds per minute with a muzzle velocity of 900 m/s. The L7A2 does not come in any variant that has either optical sights, muzzle attachments or side rail accessories mounted. It has a maximum zeroing range of up to 1,400 metres.
Suppressing targets with the L7A2.
The L7A2 serves as the British Army's standard issue GPMG. Virtually identical to the M240 utilised by their American allies, the L7A2 is a powerful medium machine gun that has an effective range of between 800 and up to 1,200 metres.
It is exceptionally good at providing medium-long range suppressive fire and unlike its Russian-made PKP/PKM counterparts, has a much higher rate of fire and easier to manage recoil. Like the M240, it is also utilised as a vehicle-mounted weapon on some ground vehicles; the Jackal 2 MWMIK being one such example, which has the L7A2 fitted as a forward-facing weapon for the vehicle commander.
As with the M240, the L7A2 is chambered to fire the same 7.62 mm NATO round which is what gives it a high damage output compared to the (relatively) smaller 5.56 mm-chambered L110A1. The L7A2 is effective against both infantry and light vehicles alike, and is capable of downing an enemy soldier with only one shot to the chest at almost every range.
But like all GPMGs, the L7A2 is almost uncontrollable while the operator is firing while standing up due to its excessive muzzle climb and recoil. For optimal results, using short bursts of just 2-5 rounds or simply lying prone, will allow the user to mitigate the effects of both and can therefore make the L7A2 more slightly easier to handle.
Variants
L7A2 Minitripod
| L7A2 Minitripod | |
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| Faction | British Army
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| Type | Static Medium Machine Gun |
| Calibre | 7.62×51 mm NATO |
| Magazine capacity |
200 |
| Dispersion | 0.0035 rad |
| Variants | L7A2 GPMG |
| Games | |
The L7A2 Minitripod is a static defence version of the L7A2.
It is mounted onto a low tripod and is completely identical to the man-portable counterpart, save that it has a lower fire rate of just 750 rounds per minute.
This variant always comes pre-loaded with a single 200-round belt box of 7.62 mm ammunition, and has a further three more boxes spare for a total of 800 rounds.
The tripod can be swivelled 60 degrees in both directions (horizontally).
Ammunition
| Base damage value | Aerodynamic friction | Initial velocity (m/s) |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | -0.0009324 | 900 |
The non-static L7A2 is limited to feeding from one type of "magazine". It requires two free inventory slots to carry:
100Rnd. M240
100-round linked belt stored in a clothed box. Also shared with the M240.
The fourth round fired will always be a visible red tracer, while the last four rounds are consistently tracers.
Trivia
- The real-world counterpart of the L7A2 is based on the "MAG" machine gun designed by FN Herstal of Belgium. Likewise, the MAG itself forms the basis upon which the "M240" series of MMGs used by the U.S. military is also based on.
- However, the in-game L7A2 incorrectly uses the same model as the M240 used by both U.S. Army and USMC forces. While the real L7A2 is mechanically identical to the M240 with the exception of the number of gas regulator positions (3 versus the L7A2's 10), both weapons use different furniture.
- As is the case with the M1911 pistol, it is likely that the L7A2 was made to reuse the M240's model simply to save the need to create a unique model for the DLC, since the L7A2 is basically the same weapon minus the previously mentioned aesthetic differences.
- Oddly enough, static L7A2s also feature an Elcan "C79" optic mounted on them while the man-portable variant is not available with any optical sights.
Gallery
External links
See also
Weapons of comparable role and configuration
- M240 (U.S. Army/USMC counterpart)
- UK-59 (ACR counterpart, ArmA 2: ACR only)
- PKP (Modern Russian Armed Forces counterpart)
- PKM (Outdated ChDKZ/Takistani Army counterpart)
 British Army - Armoury (ArmA 2)
| |
|---|---|
| Handguns | M1911 .45 |
| Assault rifles | L85A2 5.56 mm (L85A2 UGL) |
| Designated marksman rifles | L86A2 LSW 5.56 mm |
| Sniper rifles | AS50 12.7 mm • LRR .338 |
| Squad automatic weapons | L110A1 5.56 mm |
| Machineguns | L7A2 GPMG 7.62 mm |
| Launchers | FGM-148 Javelin • FIM-92F Stinger • NLAW |
| Static | L111A1 • L134A1 |
| (Parenthesis) denote variants. British Armed Forces | |
