The 10" Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) is a

carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighte ...

made by the Government Arsenal of the Philippines, based on the

M4 carbine The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO, gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively ...

M16 rifle The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-ro ...

. It cycles fully automatic with specially developed 7.62×37mm Musang subsonic and supersonic rounds. 50 prototypes of the weapon underwent field testing and evaluation with

Special Operations Special operations (S.O.) are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special operations may include ...

units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Development

Designed to replace the

MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (german: Maschinenpistole 5) is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. There are over 100 variants and clones of the MP5, ...

submachine gun and 5.56mm carbines used by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in

close combat Close combat means a violent physical confrontation between two or more opponents at short range.''MCRP 3-02B: Close Combat'', Washington, D.C.: Department Of The Navy, Headquarters United States Marine Corps, 12 February 1999Matthews, Phil, CQB ...

use, its design objectives included increased lethality over subsonic 9mm and 5.56mm cartridges, improved controllability, reduction in size and weight, and a maximum effective range of 300 meters.

References

{{Personal defense weapons Weapons of the Philippines ArmaLite AR-10 derivatives Carbines