War and Military Atlas

How Battles Were Fought
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Weapons System

Heckler and Koch MP7

Small Arms And Sidearms

The Heckler and Koch MP7 is a German personal defense weapon and submachine gun developed to meet a NATO requirement set in 1989 for a compact weapon capable of defeating body armor, a capability beyond conventional submachine guns firing pistol cartridges such as 9 by 19 millimeter Parabellum. It entered production in 2001 and fires the dedicated 4.6 by 30 millimeter armor piercing cartridge at about 950 rounds per minute out to an effective range of 200 meters. Its compact, lightweight construction relies heavily on polymers and a short stroke piston gas system. It was developed as a direct competitor to the Belgian FN P90, built to the same NATO requirement, and later variants include the MP7A1 and MP7A2. It is used by more than twenty countries in military and law enforcement special operations units. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Classification
Caliber
4.6x30mm 1
Service Status
In Service 1
Weapon Class
Personal defense weapon 2
Introduced Year
2001 2
Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)
Submachine Gun 2
FAQs

Why does the Heckler and Koch MP7 use a small 4.6 by 30 millimeter cartridge instead of a pistol round?

The small bottleneck round was designed to defeat body armor with little recoil, answering a 1989 NATO requirement.

Submachine guns were long built around pistol cartridges, which worked while targets wore little armor. During the 1980s lighter body armor became widespread, and NATO issued a 1989 charge for a new kind of cartridge. Heckler and Koch answered with a proprietary rimless bottleneck round whose smaller diameter gives very little recoil while still penetrating armored targets at range.
Connections

Operated By

Australian Defence Force, Armed Forces and Units
Source MilitaryFactory.com: Heckler & Koch HK MP7
Bundeswehr, Armed Forces and Units
Source MilitaryFactory.com: Heckler & Koch HK MP7
Egyptian Armed Forces, Armed Forces and Units
Source MilitaryFactory.com: Heckler & Koch HK MP7
Russian Armed Forces, Armed Forces and Units
Source MilitaryFactory.com: Heckler & Koch HK MP7
United States Armed Forces, Armed Forces and Units
Source MilitaryFactory.com: Heckler & Koch HK MP7

Used In

Iraq War, Wars
Source Wikipedia: Heckler and Koch MP7
In the Other Atlases

Manufactured By

Heckler & Koch

Also in Business Atlas: the manufacturer of this subject.

Source Wikidata: Heckler and Koch MP7
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Heckler and Koch MP7
  • Lead section
    The Heckler & Koch MP7 (German: Maschinenpistole 7) is a personal defense weapon chambered for the HK 4.6×30mm armor-piercing cartridge designed by German defence manufacturer Heckler & Koch.
  • Infobox: cartridge
    HK 4.6×30mm
  • Lead and body text
    The Heckler & Koch MP7 (German: Maschinenpistole 7) is a personal defense weapon chambered for the HK 4.6×30mm armor-piercing cartridge designed by German defence manufacturer Heckler & Koch.
  • Used In: Iraq War, infobox wars field: 'Iraq War'
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Heckler and Koch MP7
  • Lead, first sentence
    is a personal defense weapon chambered for the HK 4.6×30mm armor-piercing cartridge.
  • Infobox: service
    2001-present
  • Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
View the Source
Wikidata: Heckler and Koch MP7
Wikidata Q815469, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
MilitaryFactory.com: Heckler & Koch HK MP7
MilitaryFactory.com
  • Operated By: Australian Defence Force, Operators
    [ Albania; Australia; Austria; Egypt; Germany; Ireland; Italy; Indonesia; Japan; Jordan; Malaysia; Norway; Oman; Russia; South Korea; United Kingdom; United States ]
  • Operated By: Egyptian Armed Forces, Operators
    [ Albania; Australia; Austria; Egypt; Germany; Ireland; Italy; Indonesia; Japan; Jordan; Malaysia; Norway; Oman; Russia; South Korea; United Kingdom; United States ]
  • Operated By: Bundeswehr, Operators
    [ Albania; Australia; Austria; Egypt; Germany; Ireland; Italy; Indonesia; Japan; Jordan; Malaysia; Norway; Oman; Russia; South Korea; United Kingdom; United States ]
  • Operated By: Russian Armed Forces, Operators
    [ Albania; Australia; Austria; Egypt; Germany; Ireland; Italy; Indonesia; Japan; Jordan; Malaysia; Norway; Oman; Russia; South Korea; United Kingdom; United States ]
  • Operated By: United States Armed Forces, Operators
    [ Albania; Australia; Austria; Egypt; Germany; Ireland; Italy; Indonesia; Japan; Jordan; Malaysia; Norway; Oman; Russia; South Korea; United Kingdom; United States ]
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.