The KM2000 (''KM'' designates ''Kampfmesser'', literally "combat knife") is the standard

combat knife A combat knife is a fighting knife designed for military use and primarily intended for hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand or close combat fighting.Peterson, Harold L., ''Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World'', Courier Dover Publicatio ...

of the German

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

Production

The knife is manufactured in Germany by the Eickhorn-Solingen company (aka "Original Eickhorn"). The knife is produced according to NATO regulations by the German company Eickhorn-Solingen GmbH.

Design

The assembly consists of three components: the laser cut 172 mm Black Kalgard coated, forged X55CrMo14 or 1.4110 (440A)

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

Westernized tantō blade, the ergonomic ambidextrous

polyamide A polyamide is a polymer with repeating units linked by amide bonds. Polyamides occur both naturally and artificially. Examples of naturally occurring polyamides are proteins, such as wool and silk. Artificially made polyamides can be made throug ...

handle and screw. The entire knife weighs approximately . The sheath for the KM2000 is turnable, and includes an adapter to allow it to be mounted onto the

MOLLE Modular lightweight load-carrying equipment, or MOLLE (pronounced ), is the current generation of load-bearing equipment used by the United States Army. MOLLE equipment uses Pouch Attachment Ladder System (PALS)-type webbing – rows of hea ...

PALS Pals () is a medieval town in Catalonia, northern Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of con ...

load bearing system(s). Later revisions of the KM2000 (as of 2008) use a different stainless blade steel alloy with better edge-holding properties, X105CrMo17 or 1.4125 (440C) Böhler N695 (HRC 57). Apart from the hard polyamide sheath, a special leather sheath is available from Eickhorn. The newer version of the KM2000 has a modified tip for greater strength and stability while thrusting and prying windows and containers open. The blade of both models has two versions: plain and partially serrated. The serrations are used for cutting ropes and fabric fibers for survival techniques. The scabbard has a strip of diamond sharpener used for field sharpening of the knife. The handle end has a glass breaker tip which is actually the end of the knife blade tang and a lanyard hole. The scabbard is MOLLE and IDZ military vest compatible.

Variants

Based on the popularity of the design, Eickhorn has developed the line-up introducing many variations in shape, material used, colors. Models other than KM2000 are also introduced by Eickhorn such as Para-Commando, KM5000, FS knife etc. Most of these variations are not actually issued in the German Army.

KM1000

KM2000 without blade-coating. Available with sand-colored grips and scabbards intended in desert environments like Afghanistan.

KM3000

KM2000 with a spear-point blade instead of the KM2000's westernized-tanto point. Available with sand-colored grips and scabbards intended in desert environments like Afghanistan.

Desert Command I

KM2000 variant for desert environment.

Desert Command II

KM3000 variant for desert environment.

Users

* **

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

Legacy

The KM2000 owes a lot of its fame to the fact that it is among the few (if not the only) "

tantō A is a traditionally made Japanese knife () that was worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The dates to the Heian period, when it was mainly used as a weapon but evolved in design over the years to become more ornate. were used in tradit ...

"-style military knives actually issued in significant numbers.

External links

{{commonscat-inline
the homepage of the Bundeswehr (German)

KM2000 on the Eickhorn-Solingen site (German)
* Pictures of th

Military knives Post–Cold War weapons of Germany