The M4 was selected before SCAR-L and HK416 existed iirc.
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The Russians are apparently not satisfied with their light machine guns.
Their approach is interesting: They took their good medium machinegun PKM, modified it with a fixed barrel and issued it to infantry squads (with the usual budget restraints). Different sources claim that the barrel can either sustain 500 rds in uninterrupted full auto or 600.
The Pecheneg weights 8.7kg on bipod, 12.7 kg on tripod. The PKM was already much lighter than MG3 and MAG.
The only real weight-saving between PKM and Pecheneg appears to be the lack of a spare barrel (that should account for about 1.7 kg).
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