MKEK’s 7.62mm PKM and MAG designs, Production Ready?

    While the majority of the defense industry is fixated on the adoption of the 7.62x51mm NATO MPT-76 select fire rifle by the Turkish Land Forces (which is still not complete in the least), or the more recent release of a 5.56x45mm version, MKEK has quietly been rolling out plans for two locally produced versions of foreign GPMG designs. Specifically these are essentially a modernized Turkish version of the PKM, but in 7.62x51mm NATO, in addition to what appears to be a direct copy of the FN Herstal, what would appear to be licensed produced version of the FN MAG, also in 7.62x51mm.

    The MKEK product page doesn’t provide very much information other than statistics about both the PKM copy, and the FN MAG copy, other than a cursory page inspection revealed that both were updated in June of 2017, so there is an attempt to keep information about these weapon systems relevant. There is a Turkish solicitation notice for development of a domestically produced GPMG, but this query began in 2010, last updated in 2014, with no updates since. There was this news video that was released, along with an announcement about the MPT-76, and the newer 5.56x45mm NATO version.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2GIJZ9cVUQ

    While the FN MAG copy has the designation of MFY-71 Makineli Tüfek (Machine Gun), the modified PKM chambered in 7.62x51mm is simply classified as Modern Makineli Tüfek, or “Modern Turkish Machine [MG]”. So far the news from Turkish sources has simply been that MKEK will be “producing” the MMT in 2017, with no mention of the MFY-71. We have this quote from a Turkish news source (Google Translated)-

    We have seen that when we compare fast camera views with world equivalents, we have better sensitivity than all of them, now the critical design is in the approval phase, we have produced the engineering prototype, we will build the product in 2017 and then plan to go through production.

    There are also these photographs of the MMT from a Turkish defense forum-

    Miles

    Infantry Marine, based in the Midwest. Specifically interested in small arms history, development, and usage within the MENA region and Central Asia. To that end, I run Silah Report, a website dedicated to analyzing small arms history and news out of MENA and Central Asia.

    Please feel free to get in touch with me about something I can add to a post, an error I’ve made, or if you just want to talk guns. I can be reached at miles@tfb.tv


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