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Heckler & Koch

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Heckler & Koch GmbH
Company typeGmbH, Private
IndustryDefense
Founded1949
Headquarters
Germany Oberndorf am Neckar
,
Germany
Key people
Edmund Heckler, Theodor Koch, Alex Seidel, founders
ProductsFirearms, weapons
Number of employees
700 (December 2002)
Websitewww.heckler-koch.de

Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K) (German pronunciation: [ˈhɛklɐʔʊntˈkɔx][1]) is a German defense manufacturing company that produces various small arms, for example the MP5 submachine gun, G3 automatic rifle, the G36 assault rifle, the MP7 personal defense weapon, the USP series of handguns, and the high-precision PSG1 sniper rifle. All firearms made by H&K are named by a prefix and the official designation, with suffixes used for variants.

H&K has a history of innovation in firearms, such as the use of polymers in weapon designs and polygonal rifling. H&K was the first company to use polymers in its weapons, starting with the release of their VP70 burst pistol in 1970. H&K also developed modern polygonal rifling, noted for its high accuracy, increased muzzle velocity and barrel life. Not all of its technologically ambitious designs have translated into commercially successful products (for instance, the advanced but now abandoned G11 assault rifle, which fired caseless high-velocity ammunition). H&K produces a whole range of small arms, from pistols to grenade launchers and machine guns. In its extensive product range, H&K has used most of the operating systems for small arms: blowback operation, short-recoil, roller-delayed blowback, gas-delayed blowback, and gas operation.

History

H&K was founded by engineers Edmund Heckler, Theodor Koch, and Alex Seidel in 1949[2] from the remnants of the Mauser company; the company was registered in 1950.[2] Initially the company manufactured machine tools, sewing machine parts,[2] gauges and other precision parts, but this changed in 1956 when the company proposed the G3 automatic rifle for the Bundeswehr (German Federal Army).[2] Since then H&K has designed and manufactured more than one hundred different types of firearms and devices for the world's military and law enforcement organizations. In 1991, in the wake of the cancellation of the G41 and G11 rifles, H&K was bought by British Aerospace's Royal Ordnance division.[2] Their major contribution to weaponry since then was the modification of the SA80 series of rifles for the British Army, addressing a number of reliability issues, and the development of the lightweight carbon fiber–reinforced G36 polymer assault rifle, the current (2008) service rifle of the Bundeswehr[2] and numerous other military and police forces. In 2002 the renamed BAE Systems resold H&K to a German group (H&K Beteiligungs-GmbH) that was created for the purpose of this acquisition.[2]

The company is located in Oberndorf in the state of Baden-Württemberg, but also has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, France and the United States. The company motto is "Keine Kompromisse!" (No Compromise!).[2] The slogan emphasizes that H&K aims to incorporate accuracy, reliability, and ergonomics into their designs without sacrificing one for the others. H&K provides firearms for many military and paramilitary units, like the Special Air Service, U.S. Navy SEALs, Delta Force, FBI HRT, Kentucky State Police SRT, the German KSK and GSG 9 and many other counter-terrorist and hostage rescue teams.[3][4][5]

H&K was contracted by the U.S. Army to produce the kinetic energy subsystem[6] (see: kinetic projectiles or kinetic energy penetrator) of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon, a planned replacement for the M16/M203 grenade launcher combination. The OICW was designed to fire 5.56 mm bullets and 25 mm grenades. The kinetic energy component was also developed separately as the XM8, though both the OICW and XM8 are now indefinitely suspended.

H&K is also contracted to refurbish the SA80 range of weapons for the British Army, mainly because at the time the contract was put out to tender H&K was part of BAE Systems.[7]

Recently, H&K developed a modified version of the United States issued M4, called the HK416.[8] H&K replaced the direct impingement system used by the Stoner design on the original M16 platform with a short-stroke piston operating system. At this date, there is no indication that the rifle will be adopted by the United States Armed Forces. However, the elite Delta Force and other special operations units have fielded the HK416 in combat,[9] and Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn has called for a "free and open competition" to determine whether the army should buy the HK416 or continue to purchase more M4 carbines.[10] Incoming Secretary of the Army Pete Geren agreed in July 2007 to hold a "dust chamber" test, pitting the M4 against H&K's HK416 and XM8, as well as the rival Fabrique Nationale's SOF Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR) design. Coburn had threatened to stop Geren’s Senate confirmation if he did not agree to the test.[11] The XM8 and SCAR had the fewest failures in the test, closely followed by the HK416, while the M4 had by far the most.[12] The Norwegian Army has recently chosen the HK416 to be its new standard issue rifle.[13]

H&K sells its pistols in the United States to both the civilian and law enforcement markets. The company has locations in Virginia, New Hampshire, and Georgia. In 2004, H&K was awarded a major handgun contract for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, worth a potential $26.2 million for up to 65,000 pistols.[14] This contract ranks as the single largest handgun procurement contract in US law enforcement history.[15] Many H&K civilian rifles that were briefly sold in the United States now have a high value on the secondary market.

The UK headquarters of H&K are based within the Easter Park Industrial Estate on Lenton Lane, Nottingham. NSAF Ltd, Unit 3, Easter Park, Lenton Lane, Nottingham NG7 2PX

Criticisms

H&K has been accused of shipping small arms to conflict regions such as Bosnia[16] and Nepal,[17] and has licensed its weapons for production by regimes with poor human rights records such as Thailand and Burma (Myanmar).[18] It has been argued that the company effectively evaded EU export restrictions when these licensees sold H&K weapons to conflict zones including Indonesia,[19] Sri Lanka[20] and Sierra Leone.[17] British comedian Mark Thomas demonstrated the ease with which legal loopholes allow the evasion of arms embargoes by arranging a shipment of H&K submachine guns made under license in Pakistan to Mugabe’s regime in Zimbabwe.[21]

H&K abbreviations

Format: Abbreviation = German Text ("English Text")

  • A = Ausführung ("version")[22]
  • G = Gewehr ("rifle")[23]
  • K = Either Kurz ("short") for pistols and submachine guns or Karabiner ("Carbine") for rifles and assault rifles.[24]
  • AG = Either stands for Anbau-Gerät ("attached device") or Anbaugranatwerfer ("attached grenade launcher")
  • GMG = Granatmaschinengewehr ("grenade machine gun")[25]
  • GMW = Granatmaschinenwerfer (automatic grenade launcher)[26]
  • MG = Maschinengewehr ("machine gun") [25]
  • MP = Maschinenpistole ("submachine gun" or "machine pistol")[27]
  • PSG = Präzisionsscharfschützengewehr ("precision marksman rifle")[28]
  • PSP = Polizei Selbstlade Pistole ("police self-loading pistol")[29]
  • SD = Schalldämpfer ("sound dampener", "suppressor");[30] In the case of the MP5 having an integral suppressor, in the case of the USP, an extended threaded barrel for attaching a suppressor.
  • SG = Scharfschützengewehr ("marksman rifle") [31]
  • UMP = Universale Maschinenpistole ("universal machine pistol")[32]
  • UCP = Ultimate Combat Pistol
  • USC = Universal Self-loading Carbine
  • USP = Universale Selbstladepistole ("universal self-loading pistol")[33]
  • ZF = Zielfernrohr ("telescopic sight")[34]

See also

References

  1. ^ HKPro - How do you correctly pronounce "Koch?"[dead link]
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h www.heckler-koch.de
  3. ^ "UnOfficial SAS Website". Retrieved 2008-08-28.
  4. ^ "Unofficial US Navy Seals Website". Retrieved 2008-08-28.
  5. ^ "US Special Forces Unofficial website". Retrieved 2008-08-28.
  6. ^ "The Gun Source - H&K". Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  7. ^ "British Army Website information page on the SA80 A2 rifle". Retrieved 2008-08-28.
  8. ^ "Modern Firearms". Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  9. ^ Cox, Matthew (March 1, 2007). "Better than M4, but you can't have one". Army Times. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  10. ^ Lowe, Christian (April 30, 2007). "Senator Tells Army to Reconsider M4". Military.com. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  11. ^ "M4 to face new rifles in dust-chamber test".
  12. ^ "Defence Technology Website". Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  13. ^ Bentzrød, Sveinung Berg (April 13, 2007). "Arvtageren til AG-3". Aftenposten.no. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  14. ^ "Industry arms Homeland Security". Shooting Industry. 2004. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  15. ^ "H&K Australia website". Retrieved 2008-08-30.
  16. ^ Abel, Peter, Manufacturing Trends: Globalising the Source in Lumpe, Lora (ed.) (2000), Running Guns: The Global Black Market in Small Arms, London: Zed Books.
  17. ^ a b A Catalogue of Failures: G8 Arms Exports and Human Rights Violations (2003-05-19), Amnesty International.
  18. ^ Out of Control – The loopholes in UK controls on the arms trade (1998-12), Oxfam GB.
  19. ^ Wright, Steve (2001-01), A Legal Trade In Death, Le Monde Diplomatique.
  20. ^ Undermining Global Security: the European Union’s arms exports (2004-02-01), Amnesty International.
  21. ^ Thomas, Mark (2006), As Used On The Famous Nelson Mandela, London: Ebury Press
  22. ^ HKPro - definition of 'A' designation
  23. ^ Translation : gewehr
  24. ^ Translation : karabiner
  25. ^ a b Translation : maschinengewehr
  26. ^ Translation : werfer
  27. ^ Translation : maschinenpistole
  28. ^ Translation : präzisions-schützen-gewehr
  29. ^ Translation: P7 Pistol Wikipedia entry
  30. ^ Translation : schalldämpfer
  31. ^ Translation : schützen-Gewehr
  32. ^ Translation : universal-maschinenpistole
  33. ^ Translation : universal-selbstladepistole
  34. ^ Translation : Zielfernrohr
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