HK has delivered over 15,000 MG5s to the German military

Posted on by Leave a comment

HKhas announced it is making good progress in filling a long-running German military contract for general-purpose machine guns.

Developed as the HK 121 by the company, the gas-operated belt-fed 7.62 NATO is type-classified by the German armed forces (Bundeswehr) as the Maschinengewehre No. 5, or MG5.

Adopted in 2013 to replace the legendary MG3 – which was fundamentally just the WWII-era MG42 chambered in 7.62 NATO rather than 8mm Mauser – the German military has a total of 22,672 of the guns on order. The company delivered the 15,000th gun to the Bundeswehr in January.

Interested in how the new gun stacks up against the MG3? Check out the below (German not required):

Developed as the HK 121, the MG5 – seen above in a tripod sustained fire mount – has been slowly fielded with the Germans over the past 12 years, with some 15,000 delivered thus far. HK used the same design in 5.56 NATO for the Bundeswehr’s MG4 light machine gun. (Photos: HK)
HK catalogs at least three variants of the MG5, including the standard 25.2-pound Universal model, top, with its 21.7-inch barrel; the solenoid-fired MG5A1 for use in vehicles and aircraft, center; and the more compact MG5A2 with an 18-inch barrel, bottom. Not shown is the MG5 S, which is used by special forces. 

The MG5 is also used by Albania, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Portugal, and Spain, and has seen combat use in Ukraine in recent years.

Likewise, the German federal police has also purchased at least 42 MG5s for its own use. Lesson: do not mess around with the polizei.

tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Leave a Reply