Mk30

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The Mk30 HMG is a static machine gun used by infantry and support. Several projects were launched to replace the Browning M2, but each resulted in them being shelved for various reasons. The Mk30 made it through. Compared to the M2, it's lighter and more portable with better accuracy, utilizing new materials, electronic targeting help and a new tripod, trading portability for rate of fire. Based in the previous concept of the XM307/XM312, the Mk30 is chambered for .50 BMG cartridges with a rate of fire of 350 rpm and effective range up to 2000 meters. Mk30 also exists in an automatic/remotely controlled variant which is labeled Mk30A. Field Manual

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Mk30 .50
Faction	NATO CSAT AAF LDF
Type	Heavy Machine Gun
Calibre	.50 BMG
Magazine capacity	100
Dispersion	0.00096 rad
Variants	Mk30A, Mk32
Games

The Mk30 is a .50 cal heavy machine gun used by several BLUFOR, OPFOR and Independent factions in ArmA 3.

Overview

The Mk30 is a static/vehicle-mounted heavy machine gun that is chambered to fire the .50 BMG round.

It can attain a maximum fire rate of up to 500 rounds per minute with a muzzle velocity of 910 m/s, and has a variable ammunition capacity depending on the platform that it is being utilised on.

It has the ability to switch between a zoom of 1x or 2x magnification strength, and can toggle either normal day or black/white-hot thermal vision modes.

Both vehicle-mounted and portable variants feed from individual 100-round belt boxes and carry either two or three more in reserve (with a combined total of 300/400 rounds).

Easy to carry and simple to set up, a two-man team can quickly establish a defensive position at almost any location with the Mk30.

The Mk30 serves as the basic HMG utilised by the three main factions in ArmA 3. Unlike its outdated predecessor, the Mk30 uses an integrated fire control sight that has a built-in laser rangefinder and automatic zeroing. Firing the powerful .50 BMG round, the Mk30 provides its operator with the ability to lay down suppressive and fairly accurate fire at ranges of between 500 and up to 2,000 metres.

It can be mounted onto either lowered or raised tripods; the former limiting its horizontal aiming arc to a maximum of 40 degrees in both directions unless disassembled and re-assembled to face another direction, and the latter providing a full 360 degree rotation arc.

The lowered Mk30 has less clearance and a restricted aiming arc, but compensates for it by making the gunner less visible and therefore harder to see and hit. The raised Mk30 on the other hand, provides better visibility and clearance over terrain objects (like rocks and grass) but in turn makes the gunner more vulnerable to enemy fire.

As with all static weapons, the Mk30 can be flipped upright if it is knocked over from an explosion or being crashed into by vehicles, or due to being assembled on either unstable/sloped terrain.

Variants

Mk30A

Mk30A .50
Faction	NATO CSAT AAF LDF
Type	Autonomous Heavy Machine Gun
Calibre	.50 BMG
Magazine capacity	100
Dispersion	0.00096 rad
Variants	Mk30, Mk32A
Games

The Mk30A is a modified Mk30 HMG that has been converted into an automatic sentry gun.

Unlike the conventional Mk30, the Mk30A removes the need for a gunner to operate and can function autonomously without the need for human input.

It will automatically fire upon on any non-aligned hostile targets acquired by its sensor which has access to the same thermal and regular vision modes.

The Mk30A can be disassembled and re-assembled in the same way as the standard Mk30 HMG. It cannot be interacted with or controlled manually unless the operator has access to a UAV Terminal and connects to it directly.

It has access to the same pool of reserve ammunition as manned Mk30s but the Mk30A does not need to be manually reloaded (unless it runs out of belts).

Like all autonomous vehicles, UAV/UGV Operators (class only) are able to hack the Mk30A depending on their side relation to the original owner of the turret.

Ammunition

Round name	Base damage value	Aerodynamic friction	Initial velocity (m/s)	Penetration depth (mm)
12.7×99 mm NATO	30	-0.00086	910	35.49
12.7×99 mm SLAP	50	-0.00036	1,215	61.965

There are a total of twelve belts that the Mk30 can feed from, though the static turret version is only capable of utilising 100-round belt boxes (by default).

All are loaded with basic 12.7×99 mm NATO (.50 BMG) ammunition unless specified otherwise:

100Rnd

Standard 100-round belt box.

It is available in four tracer colour varieties; white, red, green and yellow which are faction-specific. The fourth round fired will always consist of a coloured tracer. However, there are no dedicated belts that are fully loaded with tracers.

200Rnd

200-round belt box. Similar to regular 100-round belts, it features four tracer varieties but only the third round will consist of a coloured tracer instead.

It is otherwise identical in all other aspects (aside from its belt capacity).

500Rnd

Identical to regular 100-round belts, just with a total of 500 linked rounds instead. It is available in the same colour varieties.

Trivia

The Mk30 is directly based on the real-world "XM312" heavy machine gun designed by the General Dynamics Corporation. The real XM312 fires much more slowly than the in-game Mk30 however, which was one of the factors that led to its cancellation by the U.S. military in real-life due to its inferior fire rate compared to the "M2 Browning" that it was intended to replace. Although the Mk30 is clearly an American-made weapon, it is ubiquitously seen amongst all three main factions. This includes both Mediterranean and Pacific CSAT forces which already use the NSVT-M HMG on their primary Main Battle Tank instead. The NSVT-M is based on the real-world "NSV" heavy machine gun, a Russian-made HMG which is chambered to fire the 12.7×108 mm round as opposed to .50 BMG. In reality, neither the Iranian Armed Forces nor the People's Liberation Army would be utilising a fictional spin-off design of the XM312 as the armed forces of both nations already possess their own indigenous HMG designs (both prototype and in service). A backpack component for a raised counterpart of the Mk30A is available to select in the Virtual Arsenal but cannot actually be assembled in-game even if the user is carrying a raised tripod. This is because neither the model or config entry for the raised Mk30A exists in the game files. Like all static weapons, neither the standard Mk30 nor the automated Mk30A can be placed in-game as Zeus or in the editor for Pacific CSAT forces by default. Pacific CSAT support gunners in particular, only carry the Mediterranean CSAT version of the Mk30 backpack. Alongside the Mk32A, the Mk30A is one of the first two static weapons in the entire series that is capable of autonomous operation. Based on information manuals from the Old Man mini-campaign, the Mk30's automatic sentry modules appear to be manufactured by the Macrotech Corporation. The Mk30 itself is later stated to be the product of another Armaverse company named Kalberg-Kise, Incorporated.

Gallery

AAF-operated Mk30A sentry. Note the attached module fitted beneath the gun's tripod, distinguishing it from regular Mk30 HMGs.

Pacific CSAT soldier manning a checkpoint. This variant is mounted onto a raised tripod with elevated clearance which allows it swivel in all directions.

External links

• Wikipedia: XM312

See also

Variants

• Mk32 (Automatic grenade launcher model)

Static weapons of comparable role and configuration

• M2 (Alternate AAF/LDF/FIA/Syndikat counterpart)
• KORD (Russian Armed Forces/Takistani Army counterpart, ArmA 2 only)

NATO - Armoury (ArmA 3)
Handguns	4-five .45 • P07 9 mm* • Spectrum Device
Submachine guns	Vermin .45
Carbines	MXC 6.5 mm*
Assault rifles	MX series (MX*, MX 3GL*) • SDAR 5.56 mm • SPAR-16 series* (SPAR-16*, SPAR-16 GL*)
Designated marksman rifles	Mk-I EMR 7.62 mm • MAR-10 .338* • MXM 6.5 mm • SPAR-17 7.62 mm*
Sniper rifles	M320 LRR .408
Squad automatic weapons	MX SW 6.5 mm* • SPAR-16S 5.56 mm*
Machineguns	SPMG .338
Launchers	MAAWS Mk4 Mod 1* • PCML* • Titan MPRL • Titan MPRL Compact
Static	Mk6 Mortar • Mk30 • Mk32 • Remote Designator • Static Titan Launcher (AA, AT)
(Parenthesis) denote variants. * denotes weapons also used or are exclusive to the CTRG sub-faction. Marksmen DLC | Apex DLC | Tanks DLC

CSAT - Armoury (ArmA 3)
Handguns	Rook-40 9 mm • Zubr .45
Submachine guns	Sting 9 mm
Carbines	Katiba Carbine 6.5 mm
Assault rifles	CAR-95 series (CAR-95, CAR-95 GL) • Katiba 6.5 mm (Katiba GL) • SDAR 5.56 mm • Type 115 6.5 mm*
Designated marksman rifles	ASP-1 Kir 12.7 mm • CMR-76 6.5 mm • Cyrus 9.3 mm • Rahim 7.62 mm
Sniper rifles	GM6 Lynx 12.7 mm
Squad automatic weapons	CAR-95-1 5.8 mm • Zafir 7.62 mm
Machineguns	Navid 9.3 mm
Launchers	9M135 Vorona • RPG-42 • Titan MPRL • Titan MPRL Compact
Static	Mk6 Mortar • Mk30 • Mk32 • Remote Designator • Static Titan Launcher (AA, AT)
(Parenthesis) denote variants. * denotes weapons exclusive to the Viper sub-faction. Marksmen DLC | Apex DLC | Tanks DLC

AAF - Armoury (ArmA 3)
Handguns	ACP-C2 .45
Submachine guns	PDW2000 9 mm
Carbines	Mk20C 5.56 mm
Assault rifles	Mk20 5.56 mm (Mk20 EGLM) • SDAR 5.56 mm
Designated marksman rifles	Mk18 ABR 7.62 mm
Sniper rifles	GM6 Lynx 12.7 mm
Squad automatic weapons	Mk200 6.5 mm
Launchers	MAAWS Mk4 Mod 0 • PCML • RPG-42 • Titan MPRL • Titan MPRL Compact
Static	M2 • Mk6 Mortar • Mk30 • Mk32 • Static Titan Launcher (AA, AT)
(Parenthesis) denote variants. Apex DLC | Tanks DLC

LDF - Armoury (ArmA 3)
Handguns	4-five .45
Submachine guns	ADR-97 5.7 mm
Assault rifles	Promet series (Promet, Promet GL, Promet SG)
Designated marksman rifles	Promet MR 6.5 mm
Squad automatic weapons	Mk200 6.5 mm
Launchers	MAAWS Mk4 Mod 1 • PCML • Titan MPRL • Titan MPRL Compact
Static	M2 • Mk6 Mortar • Mk30 • Mk32 • Static Titan Launcher (AA, AT)
(Parenthesis) denote variants. Apex DLC | Tanks DLC | Contact DLC