Heckler & Koch

Heckler & Koch

heckler-koch.de

Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK) ( ) is a German defense manufacturing company that produces various small arms. Some of their products include the MP5 submachine gun, G3 automatic rifle, the G36 assault rifle, the HK 416, the MP7 personal defense weapon, the USP series of handguns, and the high-precision PSG1 sniper rifle. All firearms made by HK are named by a prefix and the official designation, with suffixes used for variants.

HK has a history of innovation in firearms, such as the use of polymers in weapon designs and the use of an integral rail for flashlights on handguns. HK also developed modern polygonal rifling, noted for its high accuracy, increased muzzle velocity and barrel life. Not all of its technologically ambitious designs have translated into commercially successful products (for instance, the advanced but now abandoned G11 assault rifle, which fired caseless high-velocity ammunition). HK produces a whole range of small arms, from pistols to grenade launchers and machine guns. In its extensive product range, HK has used most of the operating systems for small arms: blowback operation, short-recoil, roller-delayed blowback, gas-delayed blowback, and gas operation.