M26 Accessory Shotgun Enhances Capability, Lightens Load
LTC Timothy Chyma
Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier’s continuing effort to decrease equipment weight while enhancing the Soldier’s capabilities has resulted in a shotgun system that will accomplish both of these objectives. The M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System (MASS) is a 12-gauge modular shotgun developed by Project Manager (PM) Soldier Weapons, part of PEO Soldier. The M26, manufactured by Vertu Corp., Manassas, VA, is a lightweight alternative to the Mossberg M500 and other shotgun systems currently in use.
The M26 MASS offers two configurations to fire the weapon: a stand-alone shotgun or an integrated weapon accessory for the M4. The stand-alone configuration is 24 inches long (with the buttstock collapsed) and weighs 5.3 pounds. By removing a pin from behind the trigger guard and detaching the pistol grip and buttstock, the M26 can be mounted to an M4 without using tools. The weapon accessory configuration is 16.5 inches long and weighs 3.8 pounds.
“There’s no transition between the shotgun and the primary weapon because you don’t have to sling [switch] between the two,” said SFC William Kone, the noncommissioned officer Close Combat/Less Lethal Engineering Team Leader at the Army’s Aberdeen Test Center, MD. “It keeps the Soldier from having to carry that second weapon, and it lightens the load for the shotgunner.”
In June 2004 the Army approved a requirements document for a lightweight shotgun system. It called for a 12-gauge shotgun with door breaching and nonlethal and lethal capabilities built into a system that works with the M4 Modular Weapon System. The requirements document also called for a shotgun system that could fire rounds that were either 2.75 or 3 inches long. The M26 meets all the operational requirements and was approved for Milestone C for Low Rate Initial Production and Type Classification Low Rate Production on April 3, 2007. PEO Soldier expects a Full Rate Production Decision in the first quarter of FY09 with fielding to the first units in the second quarter.
Other M26 features that improve the Soldier’s capabilities include a 3-inch standoff device for door breaching and an ambidextrous straight push-pull bolt action. According to Kone, the M26 functions provide the Soldier with unique capabilities. “Going into a door, the fastest way is to blow off the lock. The best tool for that is the M26. It’s going to have a very high acceptance rate, particularly for the guy who has to carry it around.”
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