Interview with Marc Roth, Vice President Product Strategy/Special Tasks and HK Task Force Leader Ukraine at Heckler & Koch
ES & T:The war in Ukraine, the escalating Middle East conflict - all of this shows that hand weapons are of great importance for the individual fighting ability of the soldier. Are you noticing a higher demand for handguns?
Roth:Basically yes, especially through NATO nations that are geographically close to Russia or to states that are de facto associated with Russia. The Baltic states in particular are very interested. The inquiries show that the individual fighting ability of each soldier with hand weapons is ranked at least as a second priority after the “large device”. This was the case from the first hour of the war of aggression.
ES & T:An extensive mix of small arms can currently be seen in Ukraine. Are handguns used by your company in Ukraine?
Roth:In the area of hand weapons you can see virtually everything that can be used for fighting - from "Warsaw Pact scrap material" to ultra-modern assault and precision rifles as well as pistols and portable grenade launcher modules of Western design. The same applies to optics and optronics. A lot of Ukrainian soldiers practice a new “two-track armament”: In addition to the issued AK74 and AKM assault rifles and Dragunov sniper rifles, they also carry an assault rifle or a precision semi-automatic rifle in NATO calibers, because there are now large quantities of NATO ammunition and suitable magazines are available in the areas of operation.
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