7.62mm MG3 + Two More Barrels + Motor = Rheinmetall Defence RMG 7.62

Steve Johnson
by Steve Johnson

Rheinmetall Defence are developing a new 7.62mm medium machine gun called the RMG 7.62 which takes a unique approach to dealing with heat, the age-old machine gun nemesis. At first glance it looks like a small version of the M134 Minigun, but the RMG is no Minigun. Unlike the Minigun, with its insane rate of fire, the RMG is designed to fire at the relatively slow pace of 800 rounds per minute (the exact rate of fire is user adjustable). What it lacks in speed it makes up for in endurance. When its barrel gets over heated the electronics rotate the barrels, replacing the hot barrel for a cool one.

The three barrel system would obviously be unpractical for soldiers on the ground, but it is perfect for use with remotely controlled gun mounts where it is neither possible nor safe for the operator to swap barrels manually. This setup would allow the remote-controlled gun to fire a lot more rounds and take fewer breaks than would be possible with a conventional single-barrel machine gun like the MG3.

The short clip shows a prototype RMG 762 firing but does not show the barrel changing procedure …

Many thanks to Kirill for the tip.

Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson

I founded TFB in 2007 and over 10 years worked tirelessly, with the help of my team, to build it up into the largest gun blog online. I retired as Editor in Chief in 2017. During my decade at TFB I was fortunate to work with the most amazing talented writers and genuinely good people!

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  • Vermin.308Winchester Vermin.308Winchester on Jun 15, 2013

    what the hell happened to active cooling its like every company made an agreement to not develope that tecknology and instead sell emplament guns with air cooled barrels on smooth bering mounts that could handle the weight and swing buetifully

  • Secundius Secundius on Jul 11, 2014

    Does it perform like a "Gatling Gun" or does in perform like a "Auto Revolving Cylinder" action.

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