L86 was found to not be as capable of sustained fire as a belt-fed system so it was initially supplemented by the L110A1 FN Minimi and then replaced by it. The L86's role was then changed to that of a designated marksman rifle. United States In United States usage, the M249 light machine gun is commonly referred to as the Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). In the 1970s the United States began realizing that they might have to fight a conflict in the deserts and mountains of the Middle East or Near East rather than the jungles of Asia or forests of Europe and Eurasia. The Squad Automatic Weapon program was designed to create an intermediate weapon between the M16 rifle and M60 machine gun. It would have to fire tracer ammunition out to a visible range of 800 meters or more, be capable of accurate high-volume sustained fire, and be lighter and more reliable than the M60. Initially the contenders were built around a new intermediate cartridge, but the problems with approval for a new third American-backed standard NATO cartridge forced its abandonment. The program then selected between the control group weapons: the FN Minimi (XM249) and Heckler & Koch HK 23 (XM262) chambered for the improved 5.56mm SS109 round. The FN Minimi was adopted as the M249 because it could optionally fire from magazines from an integral magazine port rather than requiring an exchange of parts in the field like the HK23. The Infantry Automatic Rifle program was launched by the United States Marine Corps in 2005. Its task was to find a replacement for the heavy and cumbersome M249 SAW that was serving as the Squad Automatic weapon in a fireteam at the time. Two of the weapons in the competition were the FN SCAR HAMR and a slightly modified HK416. The weapon chosen to replace the M249 was the modified HK416, later designated the M27 IAR. The M249 SAW is still in use as a squad automatic weapon by the US Army. M249 M27 IAR In 2019, US Army launched Next Generation Squad Weapon Program to find replacement for M249 SAW and replacement for 5.56×45mm NATO round. There are three competitors: Sig Sauer MG-6.8 with 6.8 Sig hybrid round, declared winner of the program as the XM250 General Dynamics RM277-AR with .277 TVCM polymer cased round manufactured by True Velocity AAI and Textron AR with 6.8mm CT