[Exclusive] Special Operations Submachine Guns, Halted by Security Breach, to Be Distributed Starting This Month
Type 1 Special Operations Program Halted Due to Information Leak
K17 Produced by SNT Motive to Be Supplied Starting This Year
Firing of the special operations 5.56mm STC16 submachine gun. Photo by SNT Motive
View original imageThe military's new K17 submachine gun for special operations is set to be distributed starting this month. All K1A submachine guns, which are currently the mainstay for special operations units, will be replaced by next year.
On July 16, a government official stated, "The new 5.56mm K17 submachine gun produced by SNT Motive has passed all acceptance inspections and is scheduled to begin full-scale delivery starting July 20. Under the Special Operations Submachine Gun Type 1 project, approximately 1,500 units will be delivered this year and about 14,000 units next year."
The special operations submachine gun project is divided into Type 1 and Type 2 projects. The Type 1 project involves replacing about 16,000 aging submachine guns in special operations units. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) selected Dasan Machineries as the preferred bidder for the Type 1 project in June 2020 and pushed forward with the development of a new submachine gun based on the DSAR-15 series. However, after Dasan Machineries was found to have leaked military secrets, the project was completely halted at the end of 2021.
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Instead of pursuing the Type 1 project, DAPA decided to proceed first with the Type 2 project, for which SNT Motive was selected. SNT Motive supplied about 1,710 K13 rifles to special operations units. DAPA later resumed the previously halted Type 1 project. Dasan Machineries was subject to penalty points in proposal evaluations from 2021 to 2024, but once the sanctions were lifted and the project resumed, questions were raised as to whether this indicated preferential treatment. Dasan Machineries attempted to reenter the competition, but defects were found during the purchase test evaluation, resulting in its exclusion from the final selection.
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