Denmark Looking To Adopt New 7.62mm Machine Gun

US Ordnance (USO) M60E6

The Royal Danish Army have been running a competition to select a new GPMG/medium 7.62mm machine gun. I was told that all the well known manufacturers of 7.62mm General Purpose Machine Guns entered into the competition, but my source is bound by an NDA and could not tell me exactly who entered. What he could tell me is that the two finalists are the Heckler & Koch HK121 (pictured below) and the US Ordnance M60E6 (pictured above).

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H&K HK121

The HK121 is a brand new design which recently won the German competition to replace their aging MG3 machine guns. The HK121 is being promoted by H&K in a number of different configurations. The version pictured above looks to be an HK121 I (Infantry) model with the forward rail borrowed from the HK121 U (Universal) and for some unknown reason, maybe to keep the weight within spec, the barrel heatshield has been removed. I cannot determine the exact weight of this particular HK121, but for comparison the HK121 I weights 12.4 kg (27.3 lbs) unloaded and without accessories installed.

The USO M60E6 is not your fathers (grandfathers?) M60. US Ordnance have been tweaking, lightening and improving the performance of the M60 for decades. The most recent well known iteration of the M60 is the M60E4 aka. the Mk43 Mod 0/1 which went into production in 2000. This newer iteration of the design shaves some weight from the Mk43 while adding an improved rail system and bipod. The M60E6 in the photos looks to be the standard model with a short barre (albeit it with a new black/FDE color scheme which I have not seen before). It weighs 9.27 kg (20.44 lbs) unloaded and without accessories.

M60E6

The video below shows Danish troops putting these two guns through their paces …

More photos for your enjoyment are below …