#SubcompactWeapon

Last year B&T won the new Sub Compact Weapon contract in competition with five other companies, with an initial order for 350 APC9K semi-automatic carbines. The  United States Air Force is the next service to add the B&T APC9K to its list of firearms. They have ordered 65 pieces of 9×19 mm carbines with magazines and associated spare parts from B&T USA in Tampa, Florida. It’s not known which configuration the APC9 will be in, but supposedly the APC9K PRO version.

Unfortunately, a lot of the firearms we show as Picture Of The Day are unobtainable for a variety of reasons, so it’s always satisfying to find great pictures and be able to say to yourself “I own that“.

It’s just under a year since the US Army announced its search for a new submachine gun with the Sub Compact Weapon programme. Today, it has been announced that the submission from B&T USA, the US arm of the Swiss small arms specialists B&T AG, has been selected by the US Army. Beating stiff competition from five other companies, a variant of the B&T APC9 K has been adopted with an initial order for 350 guns confirmed. While the news may have dropped on 1 April, it is certainly not an April Fools joke.

Hot on the heels of some of the other successful Sub Compact Weapon programme contractors Charlotte, NC-based Angstadt Arms have unveiled their entry, the Angstadt SCW-9. Back in September  we reported that the US Army had selected 6 Sub Compact Weapon prototypes for testing. Contracts for test guns were placed with  Global Ordnance, Angstadt Arms, B&T USA,  Shield Arms, Sig Sauer and Trident Rifles.

In September we reported that the US Army had selected 6 Sub Compact Weapon prototypes for testing. Contracts for test guns were placed with  Global Ordnance, Angstadt Arms, B&T USA, Shield Arms, Sig Sauer and Trident Rifles. Today we have a first look at Shield Arms’ entry, the SA-9.

Last week we reported that the US Army had selected six entries from vendors for its Sub Compact Weapon programme to find a new compact, concealable 9x19mm submachine gun for issue to personal protection details. One other manufacturer we spoke to, Handl Defense, confirmed that their submission had been rejected on what they believed to be a procedural basis. Handl Defense’s entry is specifically interesting because it offers a number of options for future upgrades not only to the SCW but also the US Army’s wider M4 inventory.

Yesterday we reported that the US Army had selected six entries from vendors for its Sub Compact Weapon programme to find a new compact, concealable 9x19mm submachine gun for issue to personal protection details. Today, we have a first look at one of the submissions that we initially knew little about.

Déjà vu? Not quite. The US Army has announced the companies which have been down-selected for the Sub Compact Weapon programme. Six of the companies which responded to the Army’s Prototype Opportunity Notice have been selected for testing and evaluation and there are some surprising absences when we compare it with the previous round of vendors that were selected before the Army’s previous abortive RFI was abandoned.

Back in late July the US Army relaunched its Sub Compact Weapon program to find a suitable 9x19mm submachine gun for close protection details. The new deadline to submit designs was 9th August, but before then the US Army’s Contracting Command, New Jersey, posted some answers to some 40 questions raised by vendors on the Sub Compact Weapon’s FedBizOps notice page.

We at TFB have been following the US Army’s Sub Compact Weapon programme closely. It was initially announced at the beginning of May, this was quickly followed by the news that weapons submitted by no less than 13 companies would be evaluated. At that point the programme’s contracts had an estimated worth of almost $260,000. Then in the first week of July it was announced that the programme was to be cancelled, pending a review of the Army’s requirements.

Over the last few weeks TFB have been keeping abreast of the US Army’s Sub Compact Weapon program. The program to arm Personal Security Details with a new compact, concealable submachine gun saw contracts awarded to as many as 13 companies to supply weapons for testing. You can check out my two-part breakdown of the weapons submitted by the 13 to the program here & here.

In the first part of this series, we looked at the numerous pistol calibre AR-pattern entries and the promising B&T designs submitted to the US Army’s Sub Compact Weapon program. If you missed it you can check it out here.

The US Army has expanded its upcoming Sub Compact Weapon evaluations adding three more weapons to the trials. Back in May PEO Soldier – Project Manager Soldier Weapons issued a Request for Information to industry for a Compact, concealable 9x19mm submachine gun. Following this the US Army’s Contracting Command posted a notice on FedBizOps awarding 10 sole source contracts on 8 June.

The US Army is set to evaluate 10 off the shelf submachine guns to fill its recently identified Sub Compact Weapon role. Last month (May 2018) the US Army’s PEO Soldier – Project Manager Soldier Weapons issued a Request for Information (RFI) to obtain industry feedback on possible submissions for submachine guns.

The US Army’s PEO Soldier – Project Manager Soldier Weapons has issued an Request for Information (RFI) to obtain industry feedback on possible submissions to Sub Compact Weapons (SCW) evaluations. The specification details offered by the Project Manager Soldier Weapons (PMSW) are scant and extremely broad. Describing potential SCWs as being select fire weapons, chambered in 9x19mm and having MIL-STD 1913 rail (Picatinny Rail) space.