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FN P90

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P90
Technical Summary
The FN P90
Caliber: 5.7 x 28 mm
Action: Blowback
Mass:
  • 2.5 kg (5.9 lb) empty
  • 3 kg (6.6 lb) loaded
Length: 500 mm (20 in)
Barrel length: 263 mm (10 in)
Rate of fire: 900 rounds per minute
Magazine: 50 rounds
Effective range: 200m

The P90 is a personal defense weapon manufactured by Fabrique Nationale.

Overview

During the late 1980s Fabrique Nationale found that existing pistols and submachine guns were becoming increasingly ineffective at disabling troops equipped with body armor. Contemporary assault rifles were capable of fulfilling this task, but they were generally too heavy and bulky to serve as an effective personal defense weapon in tight quarters. To satisfy this demand for a small but effective PDW, FN designed the Project 90 submachine gun and a new armor-piercing pistol round (5.7 x 28 mm). The weapon can be considered an SMG because its companion sidearm, the Five-seveN pistol, takes the same caliber rounds.

The P90 is designed to accommodate both left and right handed shooters—it features an ambidextrous fire selector and charging handle, and downward ejection of spent shells. It is built in a unique bullpup configuration that places the 50-round transparent magazine above the weapon, parallel to the barrel. A circular ramp at the bottom of each magazine re-aligns each round to the barrel. This design makes the weapon extremely compact and maneuverable and the transparent magazine makes it easy to quickly check the number of rounds left. The P90 is constructed largely out of polymers, and is therefore unusually light.

Thanks to the 5.7 mm round's excellent penetration abilities, the P90 can defeat most forms of personal body armor at a range of up to 200 meters. This performance rivals that of modern assault rifles, and is unsurpassed by any existing SMG, except perhaps H&K's new MP7. However, the round has suffered much controversy, as some are skeptical of its stopping power against unarmored targets. However, as there have been few combat firings of the weapon, the true effect is as yet undetermined. As a result, many organisations such as the SAS and the SEALs still prefer a 9 mm or other larger-calibre weapon. Despite this, the few combat reports thus far show the P90 is a very effective weapon system. The gun also has very low recoil, allowing for accurate burst fire.

The P90 is offered for export to military and law enforcement agencies—its sale is denied to most civilians due to its armor piercing ability. It is used by the United States' Secret Service, Saudi Arabia's Special Forces, Canadian Joint Task Force-2, France's GIGN, Peru's Special Forces, Cyprus' National Guard, Greece's coastguard, special units of Thailand's army, certain army units of the Philippines and numerous other countries. Additionally, the P90 was recently seen in action with the New Orleans Police Department in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina.

Variants

The weapon comes in several variants:

P90 - features a day or night 1x holographic sight mounted on a base that can fit two optional Picatinny rails.

P90 TR - the standard sight is replaced with a triple Picatinny rail interface system (RIS). There is one full-length rail on the top of the sight base and two rail "stumps" on the sides. This setup allows the P90 to mount a variety of commercial scopes, lasers, and tactical flashlights that may not fit on the regular model.

P90 L - the L option adds an integrated laser sight projected from below the barrel. The LV variant is equipped with a visible laser, while the LIR variant has an infra-red laser. The lasers have three internal settings: off (to prevent accidental activation), low-intensity (combat training and extended battery life), and high-intensity (maximum visibility). The laser on/off switch is a green button located under the trigger grip. The battery compartment is located below this button.

PS90 - a semiautomatic Sporter civilian version. It has a 16 inch barrel, an olive green plastic body, and a reflex gunsight identical to that on the standard P90. As of February 2005 it remains in prototype phase, but it can be pre-ordered through licensed dealers. It will accept the standard P90 50 round magazines, but instead will ship with 30 round magazines, and currently starts at a pre-order price of $1500 USD.

All variants of the P90 can mount certain optional accessories, including a tactical sling, a spent shell collector bag, and a factory-supplied Gemtech sound suppressor that uses a spring-loaded system to clip right onto the barrel. The PS90 variant cannot mount the sound suppressor, because its barrel's flash suppressor is incompatible with the spring clip system.

Much like the Uzi, the P90 has an instantly recognizable (some might say futuristic) apparance, and as such it appears frequently in fiction. In movies and television, the P90 appears frequently in the hands of guards and soldiers in near-future science fiction settings; for example, the P90 has appeared as the standard sidearm in the Stargate SG-1 television series, and in the hands of guards in the films I, Robot and X2: X-Men United. It also appears in numerous video games because of its distinct silhouette and unusual appearance; it has appeared in games as varied as Metal Gear Solid 2, Far Cry, Fallout, Goldeneye 007, and Front Mission. The P90 also featured extensively in the anime Gunslinger Girl as Henrietta's primary weapon.

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