Heckler & Koch MP7

"MP7" redirects here. For other uses, see MP7 (disambiguation).
Heckler & Koch MP7

An MP7A1 with a suppressor, extended magazine, and an Elcan reflex sight
Type
Place of origin Germany
Service history
In service 2001–present
Used by 20+ countries (see Users)
Wars
Production history
Manufacturer Heckler & Koch
Produced 1999–present
Specifications
Weight
  • 1.90 kg (4.2 lb) with 20-round empty magazine (PDW)[1]
  • 2.10 kg (4.63 lb) with magazine (MP7A1)[2]
Length 638 mm (25.1 in) stock extended / 415 mm (16.3 in) stock collapsed[3]
Barrel length 180 mm (7.1 in)[4]
Width 51 mm (2.0 in)[3]
Height 169.5 mm (6.7 in)[3]

Cartridge 4.6×30mm
Action Gas-operated, short stroke piston, rotating bolt
Rate of fire 950 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity 735 m/s (2,411 ft/s) (Fiocchi CPS Black Tip ammunition)
Effective firing range 200 m (656 ft)[5][6][7]
Feed system 20-, 30- or 40-round detachable box magazine
Sights Tritium-illuminated flip-up night sights; handgun and rifle sights (adjustable)

The MP7 is a German Personal Defence Weapon (PDW) manufactured by Heckler & Koch (H&K) and chambered for the HK 4.6×30mm cartridge. It was designed with the new cartridge to meet NATO requirements published in 1989, as these requirements call for a personal defense weapon (PDW) class firearm, with a greater ability to defeat body armor than current weapons limited to conventional pistol cartridges. The MP7 went into production in 2001. It is a direct rival to the FN P90, also developed in response to NATO's requirement. The weapon has been revised since its introduction and the current production versions are the MP7A1 and newest MP7A2.[8][9][10] The proliferation of high-quality body armour has begun to make guns that fire pistol ammunition (such as Heckler & Koch's earlier MP5 submachine gun or USP pistol) ineffective. In response to this trend, Heckler & Koch designed the MP7 (along with the now cancelled UCP pistol, which uses the same ammunition) to penetrate body armor, but small enough to be used in place of either a pistol or a submachine gun.[8][9][11]

Design details

The MP7 uses a short-stroke piston gas system as used on H&K's G36 and HK416 assault rifles, in place of a blowback system traditionally seen on sub-machine guns including those by H&K.[12] The 4.6×30mm ammunition is virtually exclusive to the gun (save for the now-cancelled Heckler & Koch UCP and a planned variant of the Brügger & Thomet MP9) and also offers low recoil.[8][9] This ammunition is unique among submachine guns in that the bullet is made almost entirely of a hardened steel penetrator instead of softer copper or lead.

The weapon allows a conventional 20-round, 30-round, or 40-round box magazine to be fitted within the pistol grip (the 20-round magazine being comparable in size to a 15-round 9×19mm magazine, while the 40-round magazine compares to a 30-round 9×19mm magazine). The weapon features an ambidextrous fire selector, bolt catch lever and magazine release. It has an extendable stock and a folding front grip; it can be fired either one-handed or two-handed.[8][9] It is compact and light, due to the use of polymers in its construction.

Ammunition

A German Army soldier demonstrates the MP7A1 of the IdZ program.
A recent production MP7A1 (note the safety trigger) with a Zeiss RSA reflex red dot sight on display as part of Germany's IdZ program.[13]

The MP7's specially designed armour piercing (AP) high velocity rounds consist of either copper plated solid steel (DM11), alloy plated steel jacket (DM21) or copper-alloy-jacketed lead core projectiles (Fiocchi FMJ ZP). Standard AP high velocity DM11 (Ultimate Combat) round with a 2.0 g (31 gr) projectile has a muzzle velocity of 720 m/s (2,362 ft/s) and has a muzzle energy of 506 J (373 ft-lbf).[14] The DM11 round penetrates the NATO CRISAT target (20 layers of kevlar with 1.6 mm titanium backing) even at 200 m.[15] The round has a small diameter, allowing for redoubling penetration capability and high capacity in a very small magazine.[16]

VBR of Belgium produces a 4.6×30mm 2-part controlled fragmenting projectile that is claimed to increase the content of the permanent wound cavity and double the chance to hit a vital organ.[8][9][17] Heckler & Koch claims that the CPS Black Tip ammunition made by Fiocchi has a muzzle energy of approximately 525 J, which would be comparable to 9×19mm Parabellum rounds.[18][19]

Variants

Accessories

The weapon features a full-length, top-mounted Picatinny rail that comes as standard with folding fore and rear iron sights attached. When the sights are folded flat, they resemble Partridge style open sights. Folded up, they feature aperture sights. The sights can easily be removed by loosening a single screw and lifting them off. It can fit additional rails on the sides of the barrel, which allow it to mount commercial optical sights (telescopic and red dot sights), laser aiming modules (LAM), and tactical flashlights. The MP7 can also accept a suppressor. The tailor-made suppressor for the MP7 does not interfere with its accuracy or rate of fire.

Users

Country Organization name Model Quantity Date Reference
 Albania Special Operations Battalion (Albania) [9][20]
 Australia Western Australia Department of Corrective Services Emergency Support Group [9][21]
 Austria Einsatzkommando Cobra (EKO Cobra) of the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior [9][22]
 Croatia Special Operations Battalion (Croatia) 25 2004 [9][23]
 Czech Republic Police of the Czech Republic - PDW of ordinary police officers - guns are locked in a special compartment of ordinary police cars' front doors MP7A1 2012 [24]
 France French special forces, DGSE SA, GIGN MP7A1 [25][26]
 Germany German Army [8][9][27]
Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (GSG 9) counter-terrorism group of the German Federal Police [9][28]
SEK SWAT police unit (state police) of several German states [9][29]
 Georgia Ministry of Internal Affairs [30][31]
 Indonesia Special Forces Command (KOPASSUS) special forces of the Indonesian Army [32]
 Ireland Garda; Special Detective Unit, Emergency Response Unit, Regional Support Unit, National Bureau of Criminal Investigation MP7A1 2006 [8][33][34]
[9][35]
 Italy 9th Parachute Assault Regiment [9]
N.O.C.S. of Polizia di Stato [9]
 Japan Japanese Special Forces Group [36]
 Jordan [9][37]
 Malaysia Pasukan Khas Laut (PASKAL) counter-terrorism group of the Royal Malaysian Navy MP7A1 2010 [9][38]
Pasukan Gerakan Khas (PGK) counter-terrorism divisions of the Royal Malaysia Police 2007 [8][9]
 Norway Norwegian Armed Forces 6,500 [8][9][39]
 Oman [9][37]
 Republic of Korea Republic of Korea Army 707th Special Mission Battalion [9][16]
Republic of Korea National Police Agency SWAT [8][9]
Presidential Security Service [40]
 Romania SRI Brigada Antitero MP7A1 [41]
 Russia Spetsnaz special forces unit of the Russian Army MP7A1 - - [42]
 United Kingdom Ministry of Defence Police MP7-SF [8][9][43]
 United States United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group [9][44]
Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety in California MP7A1 [9][45][46]
  Vatican City Pontifical Swiss Guard [47]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. "HKPro, PDW article". Hkpro.com. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  2. "Heckler-Koch, Products, MP7A1". Hk-usa.com. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  3. 1 2 3 "Heckler-Koch, Products, MP7A1". Heckler-koch.com. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  4. "Famous Guns, Heckler and Koch MP7: the Replacement for HK MP5". Famous-guns.com. 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  5. "HKPro". HKPro. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  6. "Heckler and Koch MP7: the Replacement for HK MP5". Famous-guns.com. 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  7. EnemyForces.com. "Enemy Forces, Heckler & Koch MP7". Enemyforces.net. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "HK MP7A1". Guns Lot. December 13, 2007. Retrieved 2011-08-22.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 "Heckler & Koch HK MP7 Submachine Gun / Machine Pistol (2001)". Military Factory. July 30, 2012. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
  10. "MP7 | Compact, lightweight and 4.6 times more effective". Heckler and Koch. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  11. "Heckler & Koch – Group Website". Heckler-koch.de. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
  12. Cutshaw, Charles Q. (2003). "Heckler & Koch's cutting-edge compacts G36C and MP7 PDW: when less really is more". Guns Magazine.
  13. "Zeiss RSA-S Reflex Sight". Zeiss.com. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  14. "HK MP7A1 Ammunition". Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  15. "Heckler-Koch, Products, MP7A1". Heckler-koch.com. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  16. 1 2 "Modern Firearms – Heckler – Koch HK MP7 personal defense weapon (PDW)". World.guns.ru. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
  17. "The 4.6x30 mm B2F cartridge". Fsdip.com. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
  18. "Heckler & Koch – Group Website". Heckler-koch.de. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
  19. "Modern Firearms – ammunition for submachine guns and handguns: semi-automatic and automatic pistols". World.guns.ru. Retrieved 2010-08-16.
  20. "Youtube, the video "hk in albania"". Youtube.com. 2007-12-26. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  21. "WAtoday, Armour-piercing bullets ordered for WA prisons". Watoday.com.au. 2009-09-07. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  22. "COBRA: Austria's Special Police Commandos" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  23. "Heckler & Koch: Tvornica od koje Hrvatska vojska i policija kupuju puške i bacače". Retrieved 2006-11-13.
  24. "HK MP7A1 u Policie ČR" (PDF). June 2014. Retrieved 2015-04-18.
  25. "Somalia — Dead french elite soldier". Retrieved 2013-01-14.
  26. "Al-Shabab militants in Somalia post alleged photo of French commando killed in botched raid". CBS News. 14 October 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  27. Gourley, S.; Kemp, I (November 26, 2003). "The Duellists". Jane's Defence Weekly (ISSN: 02653818), Volume 40 Issue 21, pp 26–28.
  28. "АРСЕНАЛ: ОРУЖИЕ НЕМЕЦКОГО СПЕЦНАЗА (Arsenal: Weapons of the German Special Forces)" (in Russian). Bratishka. Retrieved 2010-03-18.
  29. "photo of the SEK of Lower Saxony" (in German). ?. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
  30. "Account Suspended". geo-army.ge.
  31. "Exhibition of military equipment in Tbilisi". Geo Army. 2014-05-26. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  32. Ditulis Oleh Penkopassus (2012-10-08). "Wamenhan RI Berkunjung ke Stand Kopassus". Archived from the original on 2013-09-22. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  33. Ferry, Declan (17 April 2013). "Garda crack squad that will protect Obama". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  34. Tom Brady (2008-09-04). "Quick-change armed gardai hit the streets — National News, Frontpage". Independent.ie. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
  35. "Garda College Yearbook listing weapons training on page 66" (PDF).
  36. 陸上自衛隊唯一の特殊部隊 特殊作戦群の解説 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2012-11-28. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
  37. 1 2 Jones, Richard D. Jane's Infantry Weapons 2009/2010. Jane's Information Group; 35 edition (January 27, 2009). ISBN 978-0-7106-2869-5.
  38. "From the picture is Royal Malaysian Navy PASKAL tactical diver team with G36KV, XM8 DMR, HK416, MP7, G36C in 2014 Merdeka Parade at Kuala Lumpur capital".
  39. Skagemo, Leif Inge (2007-06-05). "En liten røver med trøkk i". Hæren (in Norwegian). Forsvarsnett.
  40. http://www.pss.go.kr/site/program/board/videoboard/list?boardtypeid=12&menuid=001002001
  41. "Parada album". Flickr. 2014-12-01. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  42. Writer, Staff (2016-02-20). "Russian SPETSNAZ Weapons". Military Factory. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  43. Steven Partridge. "A Modern Weapon for a Modern Role" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-09-22.
  44. Nicholas Schmidle (2011-08-08). "Getting Bin Laden: What happened that night in Abbottabad — New Yorker". Retrieved 2011-08-01.
  45. "Cupertino cement plant shooting". San Jose Mercury News. 6 October 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  46. "Cupertino cement plant shooting". San Jose Mercury News. 6 October 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  47. "Guns of the Swiss Guard". Retrieved 2014-07-24.

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