Movies - M56 Smart Gun

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	Movies - M56 Smart Gun

The M56 Smart Gun is a fictional squad automatic weapon used by the United States Colonial Marines in the movie Aliens.

The most notable feature of the weapon is that it is mounted on a servo-assisted gyro-stabilized articulation arm attached to the users combat harness. This allows the weapon to not only be easily manuvered and compensate for recoil and movement, but to aim itself once a target has been locked; for obvious safety reasons, firing must still be done manually.

The M56 obtains its targets via an infrared tracker mounted above the barrel. This tracker monitors a 30 degree cone in front of the gun, and transmits a high-resolution infrared image to the operator's eyepiece. Once a target has been obtained, the gun will self-steer itself to the target's centre of mass, though this can be overridden by the operator. If multiple targets are found, the operator can specify which of them to engage.

The gun can be fired either from the forward hand grip or the rear firing handle. On the grip there is a switch which allows the operator to select the firing mode: safe, burst (four rounds) and autofire. A second switch controls how the M250 ammunition will detonate: Either on impact (better against soft, unarmored targets) or delayed (only after penetrating armor).

The Smart Gun is constructed from molded carbon fibres and other lightweight composites. The gun measures 122 cm in length and weighs 13.2 kilograms.

The upgraded version of the M56 is the M57 which is easier to use and has a higher rate of fire. The M57 fires projectiles that auto-lock on targets. This reduces training time and increases rate of fire.

Statistics

Ammunition: M250 10 x 28 mm caseless
Overall length: 122 cm
Barrel length: 54.5 cm
Weight: 17.82 kg (including articulation arm and combat harness)
Rate of fire: 1,200 rpm
Capacity: 300 round drums

Trivia

The M56 Smart Gun of the Aliens film was in reality a World War 2-era German 7.92 x 57 mm MG42 general purpose machine gun mounted on a Steadicam harness.

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