heckler und koch

Heckler und Koch GmbH (H&K) is a German weapons manufacturing company famous for various series of small firearms, notably the MP5 submachine gun, the MP7 personal defense weapon and the G3 and G36 assault rifles. Heckler und Koch has a history of innovations in small arms, such as the use of polymers. Not all of its technologically ambitious designs have resulted in successful products (for instance, the advanced but now abandoned G11 assault rifle). HK produces the whole range of small arms, from pistols to grenade machine guns. In its extensive product range, HK has used most of the operating systems for small-arms: blowback, short recoil, roller-delayed blowback, gas-retarded, and gas-operated.

HK was founded by Edmund Heckler, Theodor Koch, and Alex Seidel in 1949 from the remnants of Mauser, and the company was registered in 1950. In the beginning, the company produced sewing machines and other fine mechanics, but this was changed in 1956 when the company constructed a rifle for the German Bundeswehr. In 1991, H&K was bought by BAe Royal Ordnance (now BAE SYSTEMS) who resold it to a German group that was created for this purpose in 2002. The company is located in Oberndorf in the Bundesland of Baden-Wrttemberg, but also has a subsidiary in the United States. Their slogan is: "In a world of compromise, some don't!" HK has been contracted by the US Army to produce the kinetic energy subsystem of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon, a planned replacement for the M-16/M203 grenade launcher combination. OICW will fire both 5.56mm bullets and 20mm grenades. As development has been delayed, this project has spun off the XM-8. See also: List of modern armament manufacturers