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The handgun manufacturer Heckler & Koch, based in Oberndorf am Neckar, has been assisting the armed and security forces from Germany, NATO and NATO-associated states for 70 years. The traditional German company - also known as "HK" - and its products enjoy a legendary reputation worldwide.
The HK headquarters in Oberndorf has the most modern infrastructure and machinery
Heckler & Koch was born on December 28, 1949, when the company was entered in the commercial register. The company's founders were Edmund Heckler (1906-1960), Theodor Koch (1905-1976) and Alex Seidel (1909-1989). From the very beginning, Heckler & Koch was characterized by a high level of engineering and weapons technology, as was the proverbial Swabian inventiveness and entrepreneurship. All three company founders had started their professional careers in the famous Mauser plants in Oberndorf. Heckler & Koch is still based in the city, which is known for its metalworking industry and its armory.
Heckler & Koch initially produced spare parts for sewing machines and bicycles, but received early permission from the French occupation authorities to manufacture hand weapons. Customers were the police, federal border guards and allied forces. With the formation of the Bundeswehr and the rearmament of Germany from 1955, HK then changed to an armaments company. From 1959 the company acted as the main supplier for the G3 assault rifle. The MP5 submachine gun, which was manufactured from the mid-1960s and also came from the family of weapons with the extremely reliable supported roller lock known from the G3, turned out to be another great success. The MP5 achieved worldwide fame through Operation Nimrod, the hostage rescue operation of the British SAS at the Iranian embassy (Princes Gate, London) in May 1980.
During the Cold War, HK developed the G11 assault rifle with caseless ammunition together with Hensoldt and Dynamit Nobel on behalf of the German Armed Forces. When the order was canceled at the end of the Cold War, the company ran into financial difficulties. In 1991, HK became part of Royal Ordnance, a subsidiary of the British defense company BAE Systems. A number of large orders fell into this period: From 1997, HK delivered the G36 assault rifle and the P8 pistol to the Bundeswehr. The company also reworked the British standard weapon SA80 / L85 originally developed by Enfield.
In 2002 private investors Andreas Heeschen and Keith Halsey Heckler & Koch took over. They reorganized the company and aligned it as an international defense company headquartered in Oberndorf. The product portfolio was diversified, sales internationalized and investments were made in the headquarters and production site in Oberndorf. Infrastructure and machinery were modernized. A new, expanded logistics center was built in 2007. Heckler & Koch has also had a new training center since 2010.
The H&K AG group now includes the subsidiaries Heckler & Koch GmbH and Heckler & Koch Management GmbH (both in Oberndorf) and Heckler & Koch France S.A.S. in Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche / France, Nottingham Small Arms Factory Limited in Nottingham / UK, as well as Heckler & Koch, Inc. (Columbus, Georgia / USA), as well as Heckler & Koch Defense Inc. and Small Arms Group Holding Inc. (both in Ashburn, Virginia / USA). The H&K AG corporate headquarters is located in Oberndorf am Neckar. Dr.-Ing. Jens Bodo Koch the company as managing director. By the way, Koch is not related to the company founder Theodor. The function of CFO is Dr. Bjorn Krönert pauses.
Heckler & Koch maintains extensive research and development capacities to meet the constantly evolving demands of the armed and security forces worldwide. As a market leader, HK is involved in the development of new and the improvement of existing weapons and weapon systems, both as part of its own projects and on behalf of the German government and other NATO countries.
Heckler & Koch's strict internal compliance and security rules form a cornerstone of the business model. Key components - even when licenses are issued - are only produced in Oberndorf. The company and its quality assurance system are certified according to EN ISO 9001 and meet the requirements of the NATO quality standard according to AQAP 2110.
Already during the Cold War it was one of the strengths of the Oberndorf armory to think in families. Around the G3 assault rifle, a whole family of weapons emerged, from the submachine gun to the belt-loaded assault rifle.
The extremely reliable short-stroke gas piston system of the G36 not only turned the Enfield SA80 into a field-compatible assault rifle, but also laid the foundation for the extremely successful HK416 / 417 assault rifle family.
The machine guns MG4 and HK121 / MG5 are characterized by the same operability and logistic equality, despite different manufacturing processes. In the Bundeswehr, the MG5 is currently replacing the MG3 as a standard MG, the MG4 and MG5 stocks will be further harmonized.
In the field of handguns, a whole range of products has recently emerged based on the Striker Fired Pistol 9mm x 19 (SFP9) firing pin pistol. The SFP 9 now serves as a service pistol for numerous German state police - such as Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Saxony.
The development of the HK 4516/417 family started at the beginning of this millennium. It combines the worldwide, tried and tested operating concept of Eugene Stoner's AR assault rifle architecture with the legendarily reliable short-stroke gas piston system of the G36. Series production of the HK416 and the "bigger brother" HK417 in the 7.62 mm x 51 caliber started in February 2005. First purchases quickly followed. US SOCOM was one of the first customers. Specialists followed, among others, from France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and most recently Germany.
The first major order was placed in 2007. The Norwegian Armed Forces procured the HK416 as a new standard assault rifle. Another overseas success came in 2010. The US Marine Corps introduced a version of the HK416 with a 16.5-inch barrel as the Infantry Automatic Rifle M27 to replace part of the light MG M249 and make the Infantry Automatic Rifleman more agile. In September 2016, the French procurement authority Direction Générale d ’Armament (DGA) ordered the HK416 assault rifle system as the new French standard handgun“ Arms Individual Future (AIF) ”.
The weapon family was also able to gain a foothold in Germany. The HK417 serves as the G27 in the Bundeswehr, the HK416A5 as the G38 in various security agencies. The Hesse police are among the largest users. It introduces the G38 with 14.5 "barrel and slim-line handguard across the board as a modern medium-range weapon (MDW). The medium-range weapon set 1 has an Aimpoint Comp M4 reflex sight. Up to 1,614 weapons are to be delivered in this version. The mid-range weapon set 2 will feature a Steiner M5Xi rifle scope special model Hessen. Up to 391 weapons are said to come from this configuration. The 416/417 family also achieved further success with military customers in Germany and the United States. The modernized version HK416A7 comes as an assault rifle special forces G95K in the German special forces of the army and navy. The U.S. Army announced in July 2019 that it was procuring several thousand semi-automatic G28E as the M110A1 Semi Automatic Designated Marksman Rifles.
The HK416 is reportedly currently in the race for the new Bundeswehr assault rifle system together with the newly developed HK433 modular assault rifle system.
outlook
With regard to national and alliance defense, development, production and sustainable technological support for handgun systems are key technologies. In this business area, Heckler & Koch is one of the European manufacturers with worldwide success.
Author: Dr. phil. Jan-Phillipp Weisswange works as a public relations officer in the defense industry.
https://esut.de/2019/12/fachbeitrae...och-partner-der-nato-streitkraefte-am-neckar/
