Category Archives: US Army

40th Anniversary of Beirut

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This week marks the sadly almost forgotten 40th anniversary of the tragic 1983 terrorist bombing of the United States Marine Corps Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Of note, the 241 Americans– 220 Marines, 18 Sailors, and 3 Soldiers– killed in the attack were peacekeepers in a pointless Middle Eastern conflict.

The more things change, right?

In Beirut, U.S. Ambassador Shea and French Ambassador Hervé Magro laid a wreath at the U.S. Embassy memorial adorned with the phrase, “They Came in Peace.” Members of the U.S. Embassy’s Marine Security Guard detachment read the names of each victim, remembered their service, and honored their sacrifice.   

They are remembered in The Cedar Tree Battalion, 241 cedar trees planted in the hills overlooking the city. 

Arlington also maintains a memorial, also with a cedar tree, marked “Let Peace Take Root.”

The USMC’s official commemoration video:

The battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) was offshore of Lebanon when the attack occurred and one of her crew– ETC (SW) Michael Gorchinski– was killed ashore in the bombing. Her crew tells the story of their involvement in the conflict

What a Difference a Year Makes

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Laid down at Newport News on the 1st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1942, CV-13 officially earned her name some 80 years ago today on 14 October 1943.

The future USS Franklin (CV-13) at launch was sponsored by the indomitable LCDR Mildred A. McAfee, USNR (Vassar 1920), then-director of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, better known as the WAVES, and she smashed the bottle in full uniform, as shown in the below photo of the event.

Lieutenant Commander Mildred H. McAfee, USNR, Director of the Women’s Reserve, christens USS Franklin (CV 13) at its launching at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. Released October 14, 1943. U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-43444

And how about this great period Kodachrome of “Big Ben” floating out, with McAfee and eight of her fellow WAVES in the foreground.

PCU USS Franklin (CV-13). The ship floated out of her building dock immediately after christening, at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company shipyard, Newport News, Virginia, on 14 October 1943. 80-G-K-14015

The third USS Franklin was rushed to completion and commissioned just over three months later on 31 January 1944. Following a shakedown cruise, she crossed through the Panama Canal and reported for duty with TG 58.2 on 16 June 1944.

Quickly involved in the war, she supported the invasion of Saipan and of Peleliu, her planes raided Formosa and Okinawa, and by October she was taking part in the liberation of the Philippines which included the pivotal Battle of Leyte Gulf. In those not quite five months, her air group, CVG-12, logged 338 enemy planes damaged and/or destroyed, 409,500 tons of enemy shipping sunk and/or damaged, and 3,971 combat sorties flown.

It was on 30 October, just over a year past her launching, that Franklin encountered the Divine Wind off Samar Island.

As detailed by DANFS:

At 1405, VF-13 launched 12 Hellcats in response to an urgent request from a nearby fleet tanker that reported she was under attack by Japanese planes. Franklin’s crew went to general quarters and “no sooner had the fighters left the deck than Franklin was subjected to a bombing attack.” At the exact moment of the attack, the destroyer Bagley (DD-386) had been alongside Franklin taking on fuel, but quickly cast off. Six enemy planes identified as a mixture of Zekes and Yokosuka D4Y Suisei carrier bombers (Judys), came in at high speed “targeting the formation at about 3,000 feet.”

One of the planes, a Judy, “dove over Franklin,” just missing her starboard side, amidships. A Zeke, observed to still be carrying bombs then intentionally crashed into the carrier’s flight deck inboard of the No. 5 and No. 7, 5-inch mounts. A terrific explosion followed which caused a ferocious fire to sweep the nearby planes on the flight and hanger deck. A third low-flying plane attempted to bomb Franklin, but narrowly missed the carrier’s starboard side. The Japanese pilot then crashed his plane into the after portion of the Belleau Wood (CVL-24).

Two other Japanese planes crashed into the water as a result of errant suicide dives and a third one was shot down by Franklin’s gunners just as it was attempting to crash into Enterprise. Approximately 20 minutes after the attack on Franklin began additional fires broke out on the hanger deck and swept the second and third decks between frames 110 and 150. “All hands turned to,” and at about 1530 the flight deck fire was finally extinguished with the hanger deck fire lingering on until 1625. By 1800, all fires on board the carrier had been arrested with the exception of some that were still smoldering below decks. In total, casualties included 56 killed and 60 wounded.

USS Franklin (CV-13), at right, and USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) Afire after being hit by Japanese Kamikaze suicide planes, while operating off the Philippines on 30 October 1944. Photographed from USS Brush (DD-745. Note flak bursts over the ships. 80-G-326798

The damage was considerable and she made for Puget Sound Naval Yard via Ulithi and Pearl Harbor for repairs, knocking her out of the war for four months.

USS Franklin (CV 13), damage to flight deck following Japanese kamikaze attack on 30 October 1944. 80-G-270814

USS Franklin (CV 13), damage to V-2 spaces following Japanese kamikaze attack on 30 October 1944. 80-G-270811

Heading back West in March 1945 with Carrier Air Group 5 embarked, Franklin would suffer through her much more extensive and well-known brush with the kamikaze shortly after.

As for the good LCDR McAfee, she would leave the Navy in 1946 as a full captain, the WAVES growing to some 80,000 in number. She went on to return to the presidency of Wellesley College, sit on the board of a number of different corporations, and passed the bar in 1994, far outliving “Big Ben” which, laid up post-war, was quietly disposed of in 1966.

Screaming Eagles Get Hands on NGSW

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The Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons program is rolling right along, with the SIG Sauer-produced firearms making an appearance at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The base, home to the iconic “Screaming Eagles” of the 101st Airborne Division, will be the first to field operational units with the new guns under current plans, and Campbell brass appeared on the firing line to get a feel for the new hardware.

U.S. Army Fort Campbell Command Sgt. Maj. Chad Stackpole fires a Next-Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) Machine Gun during a weapon familiarization demonstration, Sept. 25, 2023, at Fort Campbell, Ky. (Photo & caption: Kayla Cosby/U.S. Army)

U.S. Army Fort Campbell Garrison Commander Col. Christopher Midberry fires a Next-Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) Machine Gun during a weapon familiarization demonstration, Sept. 25, 2023, at Fort Campbell, Ky. (Photo & caption: Kayla Cosby/U.S. Army)

As outlined by Soldier Systems Daily, Company A of the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, a historic unit that has been part of the 101st since World War II, will begin a Limited User Test with the NGSW platforms this week, comparing them to legacy systems. The Army plans to have the 101st’s 1st Brigade be the first unit fully equipped with the NGSW, likely sometime early next year.

Le Char Chaffee

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U.S. Light Tank, M24 entered production in 1943 with Cadillac and Massey-Harris with the tractor firm making 1,139 at its Racine, Wisconsin facility (a former Nash-Kelvinator plant!) and another 3,592 hulls coming direct from Cadillac’s Detroit factory, with lots of sub-components supplied by Oldsmobile.

They were an excellent light tank for the era, hitting the scales at 20 tons (which was still much larger than a 15-ton circa 1941 M3 Stuart that it would doctrinally replace) while carrying an effective 75mm M6 main gun, up to 38mm of armor (which was actually lighter in spots than the Stuart but better than nothing) and could hit speeds of up to 35 mph on good roads and with good tracks/wheels.

Fort Hood, a good example in size between an M24 Chaffee light tank, M4A3E8 Easy Eight Sherman medium tank, and M26 Pershing heavy tank, all shown with deep wading equipment

It came rather late to WWII and only started reaching the ETO in November 1944, not making much of a difference. In U.S. service, however, it did see much more action in the first days of Korea, as we have covered in the past.

Where the M-24 really shined, in terms of military history, is in rebuilding Allied tank forces post-war, and it saw something like 28 different operators including Norway who used them until the end of the Cold War, only retiring their Cadillac-Massey light tanks in 1993!

NM-116: Norwegian M24 Chaffe repurposed as a tank destroyer

In fact, that is where the “Chaffee” designation comes from on the tank, issued by the British who were fond of naming Lend-Leased Yank tanks for generals.

However, while countries as wide-reaching as Ethiopia, Chile, and Denmark would use the humble little Chaffee, no one used as many as the French, who picked up no less than 1,250 M-24s in the late 1940s to early 1950s– a full one out of every four built.

These tanks saw lots of serious use in Indochina from 1947-54 in French hands, where the small (compared to a main battle tank) was ideal from primitive roads and bridges.

26 March 1951 Indochine française. French and Vietnamese soldiers catching a ride on the M24 Chaffee “Metz”. Réf. : TONK 51-37C R13 Guy Defives; Paul Corcuff/ECPAD/Defence

Ten were even flown, disassembled into components, into Dien Bien Phu where they served as mobile artillery for the embattled garrison, reportedly firing in excess of 15,000 shells during the siege.

French Foreign Legionnaires working on US-supplied M24 Chaffee tanks at Dien Bien Phu in Indochina. They would suffer repeated massed bazooka and recoilless rifle attacks and somehow endure. 

Once the French left, the NVA and ARVN had so many third-hand Chaffees inherited that they continued to use them well into the 1960s, with the South Vietnamese replacing theirs with U.S.-supplied M-41A3 Walker Bulldogs and Uncle Ho’s tankers graduating to Soviet-supplied PT-76 light tanks with the latter first seeing combat against the Lang Vei Special Forces camp on 6/7 February 1968.

Two M24 Chaffee tanks of the People’s Army of Vietnam, which had been captured from French forces, at a military parade in Hanoi, 1955.

M24 Chaffee light tanks of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) prior to the commencement of operations in the Iron Triangle, Oct 1965. Binh Duong Province, Ben Cat. Tom Gosper photo via the AWM. P11006.017

The ARVN also transferred many semi-working M24s to the VNAF, the South Vietnamese airforce, for use in static roles by their local security police, which continued well into the 1970s. 

M24 Chaffee of the VNAF (South Vietnamese Air Force) guards Tan Son Nhut in Saigon.

Some fought to the bitter end, pressed into service in a losing battle against impossible odds.

M41 Bulldog and M24 Chaffee light tanks of the ARVN after being destroyed by North Vietnamese T-54 on the outskirts of Saigon, during the 1975 Spring Offensive

As for the French, they kept a few M-24s in their inventory where some saw combat in Algeria as late as 1962, but by that time had moved to replace them with more than 3,500 domestically-produced air-portable AMX-13, which remained in service with the Republic into the 1980s and is still seen in many third world environments as another 3,500 were exported to French allies– a true successor for the M24. 

Cobra Color Four-Pack

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How about this great period Kodachrome of a quartet of USAAF P-39 Airacobras flying over Dale Mabry Army Air Field in Tallahassee, Florida, likely in mid-late 1942.

Signal Corps Photo in the National Archives NARA 342FH-4A-21151-K-2491

Note the mottled well-worn appearance of these training birds with large white cowling numbers painted over existing smaller yellow numbers and white-dusted sides where exhaust has been scrubbed off. The two closest birds, White 253 and White 255, have visible tail numbers 138276 (41-38276) and 128360 (SN 41-28360), which points to them being Bell P-39D-BE models manufactured in 1941.

Mabry, which only stood up in May 1941, was a major fighter pilot training base during World War II, with some 8,000 Allied aviators learning their trade there including British, Free French, and Chinese KMT flyers.

For those curious, 41-28360 was written off on 25 October 1942 at Townsend, Florida, likely after suffering some sort of damage (hard to handle by novices, 21 P-39s crashed near Mabry Field during training in 1942 alone) while the fate of 41-38276 is lost to history. Sadly, there are no P-39Ds on display in the U.S. today even though over 400 were produced. 

Today, the land that Mabry is on is now the Florida Highway Patrol Training Academy– where I have had the joy of attending armorer’s classes– and the campus of the Tallahassee Community College.

Introducing Captain Patton

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This notable oath, via the 1,572-page Official Military Personnel File for George S. Patton Jr., digitized in the National Archives, was signed some years 106 ago today.

When his promotion was announced officially on 17 May, Patton, who had only a few months before had been on detached duty from the 5th U.S. Cavalry Regiment to serve as an aide to Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing for the Punitive Expedition against Villa in the Northern Mexican desert regions, was, much to his dismay, detailed to Front Royal, Virginia, to oversee horse procurement for the Army. After all, for a noted horseman that had represented his country in the 1912 Olympics and had designed the final U.S. martial cavalry saber (the M1913) after becoming a Master of the Sword at the French cavalry school at Namur, it seemed like a good fit. 

However, as old “Black Jack” had recently been promoted himself to major general and named Commander of the nascent American Expeditionary Force upon the unexpected death of General “Fighting Fred” Funston, Capt. Patton would soon be leaving his horses behind for the steel cavalry in France.

Operation Alamo at 80

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Markham Valley, Nadzab Airfield, near Lae, New Guinea: An Australian Digger and a U.S. Army Paratrooper link up on 6 September 1943. The day before, the paratroops had taken the valley in a surprise assault by air in conjunction with Allied landings at Lae, about a dozen miles to the East.

U.S. Army Signal Corps image SC 185994 via NARA

Note the Digger’s distinctive Owen submachine gun, which may denote him as a member of 2/6th Independent Company commandos, which was part of the small overland force that set out to rendevous at Nadzab from Tsili Tsili on 2 September. Also of interest is the apparently field-made assault vest worn by the Paratrooper of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, who had just carried out their first combat jump.

Besides the commandoes, the Australian overland group, primarily engineers and pioneers, consisted of B Company/Papuan Infantry Battalion, 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, 2/6th Field Company, and detachments from the 7th Division Signals, 2/5th Field Ambulance and ANGAU, along with 760 native porters.

The day after the landing, the Australians and Americans went to work on the airstrip with hand tools. Trees were felled, potholes filled in, and a windsock erected while the waist-high Kunai grass was burned away.

(U.S. Air Force Number 67091AC)

Some 27 miles northwest of strategically important Lae by road and half that by air, it was as if Nadzab was placed in the middle of nowhere for a reason. A godsend to Allied strategists.

Founded in 1910 as a German colonial Lutheran mission station, by 1943, the grassland at Nadzab, at one time cleared from the jungle perhaps for experiments in farming, was some 900 yards long but it was thought it was easily clearable to 2,000 yards with a little work– making it an ideal location for an airfield in the Japanese’s back yard.

The strip to be captured at Nadzab is shown before the landing of the 503rd Parachute Infantry. (U.S. Air Force Number A25418AC)

After much planning, it was hit by 1,700 men of the 503 PIR in a full-scale regimental jump, with 31 Australian gunners of the 2/4th Field Regiment tagging along on what was only their second time leaving an aircraft via parachute. 

The 255-aircraft initial assault on 5 September was dramatic in the extreme, being led by 48 low-level B-25 bombers who blitzed the unoccupied valley with 2,800 20-pound frag bombs and their on-board .50 cals, followed by 7 A-20s laying smoke for the 79 C-47s that carried the paratroopers. Five B-17s brought up the rear, dropping supplies. Fighter cover was provided by a mix of 108 P-38s, P-39s, and P-47s. Another three B-17s filled with command observers– including MacArthur himself who received an Air Medal for the act– along with five more B-17s carrying weather and nav teams, kept everyone in line.

The 31 Ozzies of 54 Battery, 2/4th Field Regt, with only one practice jump under their belt, parachuted into Nadzab later that day with two dismantled 25-pounder-Short guns and 192 boxes of ammunition to provide the Americans some more support than their organic 60mm mortars, dropped by a mix of five C-47s and two B-17s.

This picture shows the attack on Nadzab at its height, with one battalion of paratroops descending from Douglas C-47s in the foreground, while in the distance (left) another battalion descends against a smokescreen. Coming in at 400-500 feet at 100 knots, each aircraft dropped its stick in just 10 seconds. The whole regiment was unloaded in 4.5 minutes (U.S. Air Force Number 25418AC)

“From one of the lowest altitudes ever attempted in battle, paratroopers jump among the trees and 12-ft. high kunai grass of the Markham valley.” (U.S. Air Force Number D25418AC)

While smoke screens build up, paratroopers drop from low-flying Douglas C-47 airplanes on each side, along the column of C-47s and about 1,000 ft. above them, come close-cover fighter support. (U.S. Air Force Number C25418AC)

Jumping unopposed, the 503rd lost three men killed and 33 injured in hard hits while one member of the Australian 2/4th Field Regt was likewise injured. Nonetheless, the results were so good that a follow-on glider force assault was canceled and the first transport aircraft landed at the improvised airstrip the next morning, with more than 40 planes cycling in on D+1 alone.

The next day, air-portable bulldozers and graders began arriving and within a month the airfield was fully functional with four strips. This enabled the Australian 7th and 9th Infantry Divisions to close with the Japanese. 

Natives of New Guinea crowd around supply-laden Douglas C-47’s which have landed at Nadzab Airstrip, New Guinea. In the distance, another plane comes in for a landing. 11 September 1943. (U.S. Air Force Number 67083AC)

Natives, supervised by men of the Australian 7th Division, unload supplies from a Douglas C-47 at Nadzab Airstrip in New Guinea. 11 September 1943. (U.S. Air Force Number 67085AC)

The landing forced the Japanese evacuation of Lae to take a route that proved to be disastrous for them and 3rd Bn/503d had a major skirmish with the rear guard of this exodus.

As noted by the Army, “The successful employment of Parachute troops, in the Markham Valley, has been credited with saving the concept of vertical envelopment from being abandoned following several less than successful engagements in Europe.”

Interior of Douglas C-47 showing Biak wounded, litter and walking cases, to be evacuated to Lae and Nadzab New Guinea. (U.S. Air Force Number D52993AC)

The field, besides being a logistical hub for the Australian-American forces pushing the Japanese out of New Guinea, Nadzab served as a base for assorted 5th Air Force units including the F-7 Dumbos of the 20th Combat Mapping Squadron (20th CMS), the B-25s of the “Air Apaches” of the 345th Bombardment Group, and the 43rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), with “Ken’s Men” flying their big B-24 Liberators from the growing base in 1944. Likewise, Navy units of the FAW-17, including the lumbering PB4Y-1 patrol bombers of VB-106, were stationed there as well.

The crew of the 64th Bomb Squadron, 43rd Bomb Group, pose beside their plane, the Consolidated B-24J-150-CO Liberator “Shining Example” at Nadzab, New Guinea. 25 May 1944. The aircraft, SN 44-40184, got her name as she was the first natural finish B-24 in SW Pacific. (U.S. Air Force Number 68882AC)

Post-war, Nadzab was abandoned by the Allies, almost as quickly as it was occupied.

Aerial View Of Nadzab Airstrip – Nadzab, New Guinea, July 1946. (U.S. Air Force Number 116758AC)

It eventually became a commercial airport, with, ironically, a redevelopment project spearheaded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

As for the 503rd, they jumped again in July 1944 at Noemfoor Island in New Guinea as an airborne reinforcement, helping to defend the Kamiri airstrip against Japanese counterattacks. After that operation, the 503rd shifted to the Philippine Islands where, on 16 February 1945, the regiment made its celebrated jump onto Corregidor Island in Manilla Bay, earning its nickname “The Rock.”

Today its first battalion (1–503rd IR) is still on active duty, assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Vicenza, Italy.

Cheeseburger N48550 and N43320

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Just prior to his death, the late flip-flop-clad crooner Jimmy Buffett– a Pascagoula boy like myself–  passed on a pair of his treasured aircraft to live on in posterity to the USS Alabama museum in Mobile.

They included his circa 1941 Boeing E75 Stearman (N43320) which flew with the USAAF in WWII, and his ex-RCAF circa 1939 Grumman Goose G21 amphibian (N48550), both of which he acquired in the early 2000s. Importantly for fans, the Stearman was flown by Buffett in his 2004 video for Trip Around The Sun.

Buffett, who requested that the donation be anonymous, was honored by the USS Alabama museum over the weekend by installing flowers and a Hawaiian-styled shirt on the aircraft, who finally disclosed their provenance.

The Goose has been restored to its RCAF WWII livery from Buffett’s more, um, colorful, paint job

More from the local CBS affiliate.

And with that, I’ll leave you with Son of a Son of a Sailor.

CMP Opens Round 4 of 1911 Orders, Changes Limits

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Starting in 2018, the Civilian Marksmanship Program kicked off a milsurp M1911 pistol program. This came as a result of a literal act of Congress signed by President Obama (not kidding) that allowed the CMP to begin processing some 100,000 vintage 1911s in the Army’s “attic”– the Anniston Army Depot.

The crux of the argument was that the Army was spending $2 per year, per gun to store and inventory these guns– the newest of which was made in 1945– that essentially no one outside of the Army’s museum system was still using.

The first 10,000 guns were transferred from the Army to CMP that year. Then another 10,000. Then another 10,000. Now, the non-profit government-chartered corporation that uses such sales to fund marksmanship activities across the country is opening the fourth round of guns.

The mail order process seems daunting but is fairly easy. The user simply fills out a packet including copies of proof of U.S. Citizenship, proof of membership in a CMP-affiliated club (groups like the Garand Collector’s Association count), and proof of participation in a marksmanship activity (a CCW counts). Once accepted, you get an random generated number (RGN), then you wait for the call, pay, and pick it up from your FFL. The current price range of the CMP 1911s runs from $1,100 to $1,250 in four different grades.

There is good news with CMP 1911 Round 4:

Beginning September 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023, the CMP will be accepting Round 4 M1911 Pistol orders. The CMP is increasing the lifetime purchase limit of 1911 pistols to two (2). The yearly limit is one per calendar year until you have met your lifetime limit. If you have never purchased a 1911 pistol from CMP, you may only purchase one at this time. If you have purchased a 1911 pistol in 2023, you CANNOT purchase a second 1911 at this time. If you previously purchased a 1911 through the RGN process or auction in 2018-2022, you are eligible to purchase a second 1911 pistol. You must submit a complete order packet. Incomplete orders will not be accepted. View details on the CMP 1911 Pistol Program on our website.

Also, the CMP has changed the number or rifles you can get.

Yearly Rifle Limit Decrease & Rifle Case Update:

Effective October 1, 2023, the CMP’s new yearly limit on M1 Garands will be 6 per calendar year. If you have already purchased 6-8 M1 Garands in calendar year 2023, you will not be allowed to purchase more M1 Garands until January 2024.

Due to supply issues and customer feedback, CMP will no longer offer a free rifle case with every rifle purchase. Customers will receive one free rifle case per calendar year with their first purchase of an M1 Garand in each calendar year. Rifles not shipped in a rifle case, will be shipped in a custom (made for specifically for CMP) corrugated cardboard box with convoluted foam. Rifle cases will be eligible for purchase when quantity permits. This does not apply to pistol orders. All CMP 1911 pistols will be shipped in a pistol case.

To comply with all firearm regulations, each rifle and pistol purchased from CMP will include a gun lock.

Like the HK MP5 SD, but smaller

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The integrally suppressed HK MP5 SD– the full-time suppressed variant of the MP5 submachine gun that even made full-house spicy ammo quiet– was probably the coolest SMG of the 1980s and 1990s. The thing is it isn’t small due to the large size of its efficient can. 

The shortest MP5SD, fitted with the A3 stock, is 26.4 inches long with the stock retracted, growing to 32 when it is fully extended. 

However, there is now something kinda cooler out there.

Based on the submission to the Army’s Sub Compact Weapon trials, B&T is releasing a small run of very cool little room brooms. 

The company said the release of 160 integrally suppressed APC9K SD2 models complete with its scalable suppressor system comes to satisfy “continual requests by those familiar with the project.”

The gun was originally submitted as part of B&T’s swing at the Army’s SCW contract in 2018. Guns proposed for the program had to be “highly concealable” and “capable of engaging threat personnel with a high volume of lethal and accurate fires at close range with minimal collateral damage.”

The military originally courted a baker’s dozen gun makers to submit designs, including Angstadt, Colt, CMMG, CZ, Heckler & Koch, Lewis Machine & Tool, Noveske, PTR, SIG Sauer, Quarter Circle, and Zenith Firearms — the literal A-to-Z in compact gun makers. Ultimately, B&T beat out the field of big names for the tender.

The Army went with an unsuppressed model, opting for the B&T APC9K, sans can. The final $2.5 million award was for 350 SCWs, with an option for up to 1,000 of the weapons. The Air Force later piggybacked on that for some SCWs of their own, and the company released a semi-auto commercial APC9K PRO variant as well.

Spc. Michael Richardson, an Army Intelligence Analyst with the 733rd Military Police Battalion (CID), fires the APC9K submachine gun at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. (Photo/Caption: U.S. Army)

However, those who want something much more compact than the HK MP5SD (but, alas, not select fire due to the Hughes Amendment – thanks, Ronald Reagan!) can now grab an APC9K SD2 of their own, although it is a two-stamp gun (suppressor and SBR). 

The SD2 is an integrally suppressed variant of the APC9K that features a scalable suppressor system and M-LOK compatible SD handguard. In its shortest configuration, the APC9K SD2 features a 3-inch ported barrel combined with an advanced over-the-barrel suppressor that is fully contained within the handguard.

In this configuration, the platform measures only 15 inches overall. Weight is 5.9 pounds, and the platform is modular, able to use standard B&T, Glock, and SIG P320 magazines via a swappable non-serialized lower receiver replacement. (Photo: B&T)

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