The UKM-2000 (''Uniwersalny Karabin Maszynowy'', "Universal Machine Gun") is a

7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first been introduced in U.S. service fo ...

general-purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for v ...

designed and manufactured by Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów in

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999. From 1975 to 1998, it was the capital of the Tarn� ...

, Poland.

Development

On March 12, 1999, Poland joined the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

(NATO). A problem arose with modifying the weapons of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

to use the standard NATO ammunition. A decision was made to develop a new general-purpose machine gun. The construction was based on the design of the successful

PKM machine gun The PK (russian: Пулемёт Калашникова, transliterated as ''Pulemyot Kalashnikova'', or "Kalashnikov's machine gun"), is a belt-fed general-purpose machine gun, chambered for the 7.62×54mmR rimmed cartridge. Designed in the So ...

that was previously produced under licence in Poland. To use the common NATO ammunition, the feeding method of the machine gun had to be fundamentally modified. The metallic

disintegrating link upright=1.35, An M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, aboard a U.S. Navy">7.62×51mm_NATO.html" ;"title="M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO">M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, aboar ...

specifically designed for ammunition belt-fed

firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

and rimless

rounds used by NATO is a push-through design. The UKM machine gun extracts 7.62×51mm NATO rounds from open- M13 links by pushing them forward out of the link directly into the chamber for firing. The non-disintegrating closed-link metallic belt type used in the PKM machine gun is a pull-out design, which extracts the rimmed

7.62×54mmR The 7.62×54mmR is a rimmed rifle cartridge developed by the Russian Empire and introduced as a service cartridge in 1891. Originally designed for the bolt-action Mosin–Nagant rifle, it was used during the late tsarist era and throughout th ...

rounds by pulling them rearward out of the link. In the second stage, the rimmed rounds are pushed forward into the chamber for firing. The 7.62×54mmR machine gun feed pawl mechanism is radically different than that of 7.62×51mm NATO chambered machine guns based on the

MG 42 The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enter ...

machine gun feeding method, using a small, simple pivoting arm pushed out to the right side by the bolt carrier, rather than a much larger (and therefore much heavier) articulated feed cam, lever, and pawl assembly. The UKM-2000 is a primary general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) on most vehicles used by Polish Forces in Afghanistan (

Cougar H The Cougar is a mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) and infantry mobility vehicle structured to be resistant to landmines and improvised munitions. It is a family of armored vehicles produced by Force Protection Inc, which manufactures bal ...

, MaxxPro Dash, M-ATV,

Humvee The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles previously performed by the or ...

) and is a coaxial machine gun in KTO Rosomak and Polish-modernized

BRDM-2 The BRDM-2 (''Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina'', Боевая Разведывательная Дозорная Машина, literally "Combat Reconnaissance/Patrol Vehicle") is an amphibious armoured scout car used by states that we ...

. There is a proposal to modernize the Polish UKM-2000 GPMG fed by

to the new UKM-2013 standard. The upgraded GPMG will be equipped with a new folding and telescopic buttstock with a cheekpiece and additional grip/pod, the integrated Picatinny rail with iron sight and 3-rail forehand attached to the gas tube, a new grip, a new cocking handle, a new safety switch selector, a new 440-mm barrel (as an option) plus some additional internal changes. The Polish Army is interested in this machine gun fed from the 100-round soft ammo bag instead of a steel box. Because of external similarity to the Russian PKM GPMG chambered to the 7.62×54mmR some elements like a buttstock, a grip or a forehand with rails will be able to be used with the Kalashnikov design.

Variants

*UKM-2000C(L) - coaxial version of UKM-2000, successor of the PKT. Use on KTO Rosomak and some Polish modernized

. Modifications include the removal of the stock, a longer and heavier barrel, a gas regulator and an electric solenoid trigger. *UKM-2000D - airborne version with folding stock, limited use in

Polish Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, abbreviated ''SZ RP''; popularly called ''Wojsko Polskie'' in Poland, abbreviated ''WP''—roughly, the "Polish Military") are the national armed forces of ...

*UKM-2000P - standard GPMG version, some also equipped with MIL-STD-1913 rail. *UKM-2000Z - first attempt to modernization of UKM-2000, new telescoping stock and black polymer pistol grip. It wasn't adopted. *UKM-2013C(L) - modernization of UKM-2000C(L) presented in 2012 *UKM-2013P - modernization of UKM-2000P presented in 2012, better ergonomy and functionality, new folding and telescopic buttstock with a cheekpiece and additional grip/pod, the integrated Picatinny rail with iron sight and 3-rail forehand attached to the gas tube, new grip, new cocking handle new safety switch selector, a new 440-mm barrel (as an option) plus some additional internal changes, new soft ammo bag instead of typical for PK family steel box magazine *UKM-2000M/UKM-2015 - version that will be in tests in mid-2014, probably to introduction in 2015 The L in a coaxial version denotes the ammunition is fed from the left instead of from the right.

Operators

* - around 1200 examples used by

Polish Land Forces The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

and Military Gendarmerie, around 2,500 on order (UKM-2000M version) * - ca. 50 used (version with wooden buttstock) * - unknown number (given to Ukraine from June 2022)

References

External links

MACHINE GUNS: UKM 2000P, UKM 2000C
( Zakłady Mechaniczne Tarnów)
Polish Modernised UKM-2013 Machine Gun
(The Firearm Blog) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ukm-2000 7.62×51mm NATO machine guns General-purpose machine guns Machine guns of Poland Military equipment introduced in the 2000s