Personal defense weapon
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A personal defense weapon (often abbreviated PDW) is a compact firearm, smaller than a full-size assault rifle, but with increased range and better armor penetrating capabilities than a pistol or submachine gun.
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[edit] Overview
In 1986, United States Army Infantry School based at Fort Benning issued the reference document Smalls Arms Strategy 2000, which defines the APDW (Advanced Personal Defense Weapon).
PDWs were developed during the late 1980s for non-combatant troops, as compact automatic weapons that could defeat enemy body armor. Standard pistols and submachine guns chambered for pistol rounds had proven ineffective against armored soldiers and compact lightweight weapons capable of penetrating body armor were needed. In this role, they were supposed to be a more convenient alternative to the standard assault rifle, as their smaller size and lighter weight would be less of an encumbrance to a person whose primary function on the battlefield was not frontline fighting.
This concept has not been widely successful, among other reasons because PDWs aren't much cheaper to manufacture than full sized assault rifles. Additionally, PDWs usually require a special cartridge, generally with less range and power than an assault rifle. One example is the 5.7x28mm Cartridge for the FN P90 PDW. Though they have never become very popular for military applications, many personal defense weapons have found their way into the hands of security forces and some special forces as direct replacements for submachine guns.
Typical PDWs use small-caliber, high-velocity bullets cabable of penetrating soft kevlar body armor up to Level IIIa. Additionally, they tend to have a very high rate of fire which, when combined with the lower recoil of the smaller cartridges, increases the probability of multiple hits. However, the wound characteristics of such ultra-light, high-velocity bullets are the object of some debate.
The M1 Carbine used in the Second World War can be considered a forerunner of modern personal defense weapons. It filled a similar role — it was primarily intended not for front line troops, but for others such as drivers, engineers and medics to defend themselves in an emergency.
There are a number of modern weapons that posess some characteristics of personal defense weapons, but not all of them. These PDW-like submachineguns and machinepistols can be considered transitional weapons.
[edit] Modern PDWs
- Fabrique Nationale P90
- Heckler & Koch MP7
- PDW 17 Libra
- Saab Bofors Dynamics CBJ-MS
- Knight's Armament Company PDW
- Type 05 PDW
[edit] Near-PDWs
- Heckler & Koch MP5K-PDW - uses normal 9mm Parabellum pistol ammunition and does not meet the modern PDW category definition despite its name. Intermediate between machine pistol and submachinegun
- Parker Hale PDW - 9mm pistol ammunition
- PP-2000 - 9mm pistol ammunition
- Jian She - 9mm pistol ammunition, similar design to Type 05 PDW
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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