Lighter More Mobile Gear.

Now the Army is trying a new approach to lighten the load for troops patrolling the crags and mountain passes of Afghanistan. In a few weeks, a battalion’s worth of soldiers in Combined Joint Task Force 101 in Afghanistan will get scaled-down plate carriers, lighter plates, new packs and new boots, all intended to subtract at least 20 pounds from their 60- to 130-pound combat loads.
Lighter Machine Guns, Too, Enter The Fray.

Army machine-gunners in Afghanistan are now going into battle carrying the MK48, a special operations forces weapon that’s 30 percent lighter than the standard M240B machinegun.
I'm sure that Ken will mention his concerns about the durability of the Mk 48. Not sure why they didn't go with a version of the M240E6. It weighs 23.5 pounds. And they could take a few more off, if the USMC Thermally Stable Machine Gun Barrel RFP bears fruit, which I am inclined to believe it will.