The link has several photos plus a video.

https://www.armytimes.com/news...-army-is-interested/

Could you soon carry a submachine gun on mission? The Army is interested

By: Todd South   2 hours ago

INDIANAPOLIS – If a recent request by the Army’s soldier weapons office is met, some soldiers could be carrying a 9mm submachine gun such as an Uzi or Heckler & Koch MP5.

The Army is asking industry to showcase what kind of fully automatic, 9 mm subcompact weapons it has in its stocks through a recent posting on the fedbizopps website, a site for government contract postings.

According to the Request For Information posting, the “(Sub Compact Weapon) will be a full/semi-automatic selectable variant.” It must also have the Picatinny rail, familiar to soldiers on their existing M4 carbine.

Weapons of this sort have been in use in Special Operations Forces units such as SEAL teams and others who do close quarters battle and hostage rescue. The weapon has rapid fire capability for short ranges but the 9mm round limits overpenetration that might be common with 5.56mm M4-type weapons.

Lt. Col. Steven Power, product manager of Soldier Weapons for Program Executive Office-Soldier, mentioned the new posting at the National Defense Industrial Association Armament Systems forum here as one of several examples of quicker acquisition of weapons systems to meet soldier needs.

The focus of this weapon is not to outfit every soldier with a subcompact weapon but to focus it on those who might need a personal protection type weapon for certain missions.

In January at the annual Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas, firearms company Sig Sauer unveiled a compact weapon specially built for SOF units called the MCX Rattler.

It packs a little more punch than the one being sought by regular Army.

The Rattler fires the .300 Blackout round and measures just 16 inches when folded. The round is a more powerful design along the lines of the 5.56mm round so likely would not be used in the same settings as the subcompact gun being sought.

Industry officials have until May 19 to post their packages on the website. One company, Zenith Quest Corporation, has expressed interest in providing the weapon.

They make the Zenith Z-5P, Z-5K and 5RS, all similar in appearance to the classic H&K MP5, which is in use by many police Special Weapons and Tactics units.

An SMG would be a good weapon for many soldiers.

Better than a 9mm handgun, but smaller / lighter than an AR.

For instance RTOs / drivers, staff officers, support NCOs etc.

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quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:
An SMG would be a good weapon for many soldiers.

Better than a 9mm handgun, but smaller / lighter than an AR.

For instance RTOs / drivers, staff officers, support NCOs etc.

Issuing a smaller, lighter weapon in a smaller caliber to support troops, so they'd be armed with something in-between a pistol and a rifle... I wonder why the US military didn't think of that years ago?



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If worried about over penetration why not issue a light varmint load? And if they need a PDW why not just get more 10.5" ARs or the MP7? Sounds like a bunch of wank to me.

Soo...a Ruger PC Carbine

Grease guns and Ka-Bars baby. Those are the tools that make men die.

The over penetration thing is pretty funny really. Considering most of the rounds fired are going to miss and go God knows where, worrying about the few that hit and might over penetrate seems kind of odd.

6" 300 blk upper with a 20 round mag. I'd rather have that than a 9mm sub gun any day.

I'm not former military, so I don't know, but it these people really aren't ever going to use this weapon, I suppose it doesn't matter.

However, if we have a bunch of troops running around with MP5's, I'm going to naturally start looking for Cobra Commander.

A lot of fail in that article.

First, why even consider adding another caliber, ( .300 B/O ) to the supply chain? Not to mention, if .300 B/O was adopted, how long before units started mixing up .300 B/O and 5.56 at a qual range, for example?

Second, I seem to recall that the bulk of our police departments went away from 9mm sub guns and switched over to 5.56 caliber weapons... due to over penetration concerns from 9mm rounds. At least that was one of the justifications at the time.

Third, this is just one more pipe dream from the Army that will most likely go nowhere.. after millions upon millions of our tax dollars have been spent.

Great idea, so the drivers and RTOs in A-stan can have absolutely zero chance of returning fire at the typical engagement ranges...

Sure, SMGs have some limited utility, but I don't see if for line troops. Tankers, drivers, and such should be fighting with their primary weapon system, then if it's out of service, need the standard infantry weapon.

Heck, even the 160th guys figured out that an M4 was better than an MP5 after Somalia. NSW still has some MP5s and MP7s, but use is limited and I see more fucking around videos than anything else (full auto dumps on range day, etc). I guess the JOC troops like hanging them over their chairs in case they get overrun or something.

More mental masturbation by someone in a program office with too much time on their hands but wanting to keep their billet, then have a job waiting for them after retiring.

Bring back the Tommy Gun

I miss our Tommy Guns.
And our MP5s and our UMPs.

We switched over to 5.56 over a decade ago.


I did recently play with my 7.5" 300blk suppressed upper on one of our select fire lowers and it was a hoot to watch almost $20 in ammo fly out quietly.

I hope somebody sent this to B&T.