C6 7.62-mm Medium Machine Gun

The C6 7.62-mm Medium Machine Gun is a critical weapon of the small arms fleet, and is used in a full range of operations by the Canadian Armed Forces. The C6 is a fully-automatic, air-cooled, gas- and spring-operated machine gun that is generally belt-fed from the left. Restricted to firing in full-automatic mode from the open bolt position, the C6 machine gun can fire from 750 to 1,100 rounds per minute.

The C6 machine gun can be carried by dismounted soldiers to provide either fire support or sustained fire. The C2A1 sight is an indirect sighting system for indirect firing, much like what the artillery uses. The sight system is used in conjunction with the Sustained Firing (SF) Kit mount. used in conjunction with an aiming post to allow the crew to engage targets they cannot see due to fog, smoke or darkness. The C6 machine gun is light enough to be carried and used by soldiers on a variety of operations including patrolling, advance, hasty defence, delay and withdrawal.

C6A1 Upgrade

The C6 Medium Machine Gun is being replaced with the C6A1 7.62-mm General Purpose Machine Gun. The C6A1 is based on the current C6 design, and includes improved features such as:

• an external gas regulator to control the rate of fire as needed;
• durable polymer butt stock instead of the C6 wooden style; and
• the ability to attach pointing devices and optical sighting systems to help increase operational and tactical effectiveness.

The C6A1 is fitted with a composite butt stock, feed cover with integral sight rail, Weapon Mounted Accessory Rail (WMAR), bipod, carrying handle, and a regulator that allows adjustment of the gas pressure without requiring disassembly of the weapon.

Both C6 machine gun variants are designed mainly for ground support, but their flexible configuration allows them to adopt other roles. They are light enough to be carried and used by soldiers on a variety of operations, including patrolling, advance, hasty defence, delay, and withdrawal. They can also be mounted on a variety of vehicles, including the Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle,, the Coyote, and the Leopard 2 Family of Vehicles, and can be used to provide fire support to the infantry or for local defence of the vehicle itself.