In the late 1970s, the Chartered Industries of Singapore hired two American designers to come up with a light and portable machine gun with sustained firepower. One of whom was Leroy James Sullivan who was known for scaling-down versions of larger fireams such as the M16 rifle.

The result is the ULTIMAX 100 which used 5.56-mm bullets, lighter than the traditional Western-designed machine guns that used 7.62-mm bullets.