US Air Force Adopts Brugger & Thomet APC9K

Image from Recoil

In November 2020 it came out that the US Air Force is going to be adopting the Brugger & Thomet APC9K in a limited capacity. In total The United States Air Force is going to be commandeering 65 APC9Ks from the US Army’s $2.5 million contract. There doesn’t seem to be a lot known on why the Air Force is picking these up, but many are speculating that the Air Force, like the Army, is adopting them to replace the Heckler & Koch MP5 that their security forces have been using for decades.

From the program requirements from the Army’s, they needed a firearm that was more lethal than a handgun, more concealable than a rifle, and had a lower chance of causing collateral damage while being able to sustain high rates of accurate, lethal force. You can find some of the information relating to the Army’s contract here in a post I did in April 2019. And yes… for those that play Call of Duty, this gun is known as the sort of useful, sort of useless ISO.

For those that aren’t familiar with the Brugger & Thomet APC9K, it’s apart of the APC9 Pro line-up. It’s a highly modular submachine gun platform; think of it as the M4 of the SMG world. It ha several different barrel configurations, several different receiver options, and more. Included in the receiver options are variants that accept Sig Sauer P320 magazines, Glock style magazines, and of course their proprietary magazine. You can also pick up a detachable brass catcher for it. All around the APC9 Pro line looks to be a very handy and very capable platform; especially since there’s variants that can use the military’s new P320 magazines; if they pick up that receiver option.