Heckler & Koch GmbH. Arms production company of the so-called German Defense Industry. Located in Oberndorf am Neckar, in Germany . It produces various types of light weapons , including the HK MP5 submachine gun family , the HK G36 assault rifle and the HK PSG1 precision rifle for snipers.
All weapons manufactured by Heckler & Koch are named with a prefix indicating the type of weapon, the official designation number, and subfixes indicating the variant.
Summary
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- 1 History
- 1 Location
- 2 Criticisms
- 3 HK abbreviations
- 2 Sources
History
HK was founded by engineers Edmund Heckler , Theodor Koch , and Alex Seidel in 1949 on the remains of the Mauser company , and was registered in 1950 . Initially the company built industrial machinery, sewing machine parts, industrial indicators and other precision tools, but this changed in 1956, when the company designed the G3 automatic rifle for the Bundeswehr (the Federal German Army).
Since then, HK has designed and built more than 100 different types of firearms for police forces and armies around the world. In 1991, following the cancellation of the G41 and G11 project , HK was bought by a division of the British Air Force .
During this period the British SA80 rifles were modernized and had a number of reliability problems. HK also developed the G36 rifle , very light, made of polymer and reinforced with carbon fiber, which is the regulation rifle of the Bundeswehr and other military and police forces. In 2002 , HK was bought by a group of private investors, who created the HK Beteiligungs-GmbH group.
Location
Heckler & Koch G36 rifle
The company is located in Oberndorf , in the state of Baden-Württemberg , but it also has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom , France and the United States . The company’s motto is ” Keine Kompromisse! ” (No Commitments!). HK supplies firearms to many military and paramilitary groups, such as the British Special Air Service , Navy SEALs, Delta Force , FBI HRT, German KSK and GSG 9 , among other counter-terrorist forces and hostage rescue teams.
HK was contracted by the United States Army to produce the kinetic energy subsystem for the XM29 OICW rifle, which is planned to replace the combination of the M16 rifle and the M203 grenade launcher . The OICW is designed to fire 5.56x45mm NATO caliber shells and 25mm grenades. The kinetic energy component was developed separately as the XM8 , although the two are currently held indefinitely.
HK recently developed a modified version of the US Army M4 carbine, called the HK416 , changing the design of the original M16 platform mechanism for a gas piston system. So far there is no information that the rifle will be adopted by the US military, however Delta Force special troops and other US special units have tested it in combat.
There have also been competitions in dust chambers between the HK416, the M4 , the FN SCAR and the XM8 , with the XM8 and the FN SCAR winning, followed by the HK416 and lastly the M4 .
Heckel & Koch G11 rifle
HK has been characterized by the innovation of its products, such as the use of Polymer or the implementation of integrated supports for flashlights. HK also developed the polygonal rifling system for the barrels, which increases the accuracy, muzzle velocity, and barrel life of the weapon. Not all of his designs have ended up as commercial products, due to their ambition, as can be mentioned the HK G11 assault rifle , which fired high velocity casedless ammunition. HK produces a wide range of infantry weapons, from handguns to grenade launchers and heavy machine guns.
critics
Insurgent showing occupied HK rifles in Libya
HK has been accused of sending weapons to conflict regions, such as Bosnia and Nepal, and of having given manufacturing licenses to countries proclaimed violators of human rights by the UN, such as Sudan , Thailand and Burma . It has also been discussed whether the company has violated European Union export restrictions when they have sold weapons to conflict zones, including Indonesia , Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone .
According to the Stuttgarter Nachrichten documents (31.8.11), and other media, a large number of HK G36 assault rifles fell into the hands of the rebels during the attack on Gaddafi’s headquarters in Tripoli in August 2011, with photos showing They show the rifles with the company’s brand. It is not known exactly how many were exported to Libya or by whom.
HK abbreviations
- A= Ausführung (“version”)
- G= Gewehr (“rifle”)
- K= Kurz (“short”) for pistols and submachine guns or Karabiner (“Carbine”) for rifles.
- AG= Anbau-Gerät (“attached device”) or Anbaugranatwerfer (“integrated grenade launcher”)
- GMG= Granatmaschinengewehr (“Grenade Machine Gun”)
- GMW= Granatmaschinenwerfer (Automatic Grenade Launcher)
- MG= Maschinengewehr (“Machine Gun”)
- MP= Maschinenpistole (“submachine gun” or “submachine gun”)
- PSG= Präzisionsschützengewehr (“sniper rifle”)
- PSP= Polizei-Selbstlade-Pistole (“police automatic pistol”)
- SD= Schalldämpfer (“silencer”); In the case of the MP5 with an integrated silencer , in the USP, a barrel prepared to place a silencer.
- SG= Scharfschützengewehr (“sniper rifle”)
- SL= Selbstlader (“Auto Loader”)
- UMP= Universale Maschinenpistole (“universal automatic pistol”)
- UCP= Universal Combat Pistol
- USC= Universal Automatic Carbine
- USP= Universale Selbstladepistole (“universal automatic pistol”)
- ZF= Zielfernrohr (“telescopic sight”
