The
Uzi is a related family of
open boltA semi or fully automatic firearm is said to fire from an open bolt if, when ready to fire, the bolt and working parts are held to the rear. When the trigger is pulled the bolt goes forward, feeding a round from the magazine into the chamber and firing it...
,
blowbackBlowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains power from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gases created by the ignition of the powder charge....
-operated
submachine gunA submachine gun is a firearm that combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol, and is usually between the two in weight and size...
s. Smaller variants are considered to be
machine pistolA machine pistol is a handgun-style, magazine-fed and self-loading firearm, capable of fully automatic or burst fire, and normally chambered for pistol cartridges. The term is a literal translation of Maschinenpistole, the German term for a hand-held automatic weapon...
s. The Uzi was one of the first weapons to use a
telescoping boltA weapon with a telescoping bolt is one with a bolt which telescopes over, that is, wraps around and past, the breech end of the barrel...
design which allows for the magazine to be housed in the pistol grip for a shorter weapon.
The first Uzi submachine gun was designed by Major
Uziel GalUziel "Uzi" Gal , born Gotthard Glas , was a German-born- Israeli gun designer best remembered as the designer and namesake of the Uzi submachine gun....
in the late 1940s. The prototype was finished in 1950; first introduced to IDF special forces in 1954, the weapon was placed into general issue two years later. The Uzi has found use as a
personal defense weaponA personal defense weapon is a compact semi-automatic or fully-automatic firearm similar in most respects to a submachine gun, but firing an armor-piercing round which gives a PDW better range, accuracy and armor-penetrating capability than a submachine gun firing pistol-caliber cartridges...
by rear-echelon troops, officers, artillery troops and tankers, as well as a frontline weapon by elite light infantry assault forces.
Over its service lifetime, the Uzi was manufactured by
Israel Military IndustriesIsrael Weapons Industries , formerly the small arm "Magen" division of the Israel Military Industries Ltd. Israel Weapons Industries (IWI), formerly the small arm "Magen" division of the Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) Israel Weapons Industries (IWI), formerly the small arm "Magen" division...
, FN Herstal, and other manufacturers.
Design
The Uzi uses an
open boltA semi or fully automatic firearm is said to fire from an open bolt if, when ready to fire, the bolt and working parts are held to the rear. When the trigger is pulled the bolt goes forward, feeding a round from the magazine into the chamber and firing it...
,
blowbackBlowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains power from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gases created by the ignition of the powder charge....
-operated design. The open bolt design exposes the breech end of the barrel, and improves cooling during periods of continuous fire; however, it means that since the bolt is held to the rear when cocked, the receiver is more susceptible to contamination from sand and dirt ingress. It and the
Czechoslovakian series 23 to 26The CZ Model 25 was perhaps the best known of a series of Czechoslovak designed submachine guns introduced in 1948. There were four generally very similar submachine guns in this series: the Sa.23, Sa.24, Sa.25, and Sa.26...
were the first weapons to use a
telescoping boltA weapon with a telescoping bolt is one with a bolt which telescopes over, that is, wraps around and past, the breech end of the barrel...
design, in which the bolt wraps around the breech end of the barrel. This allows the barrel to be moved far back into the
receiverIn firearms terminology, the receiver is the part of a firearm that houses the operating parts. It is sometimes called the body of the firearm, and especially in the context of handguns it is often called the frame...
and the magazine to be housed in the pistol grip, allowing for a heavier, slower-firing bolt in a shorter, better-balanced weapon.
The weapon is constructed primarily from stamped sheet metal, making it less expensive per unit to manufacture than an equivalent design machined from forgings. With relatively few moving parts, the Uzi is easy to strip for maintenance or repair. The magazine is housed within the pistol grip, allowing for intuitive and easy reloading in dark or difficult conditions, under the principle of 'hand finds hand'. The pistol grip is fitted with a grip safety, making it difficult to fire accidentally. However, the protruding vertical magazine also makes the gun awkward to fire when prone.
When the gun is de-cocked, the ejector port closes, preventing entry of dust and dirt. Though the Uzi's stamped-metal receiver is equipped with pressed reinforcement slots to accept accumulated dirt and sand, the weapon can still jam with heavy accumulations of sand in desert combat conditions when not cleaned regularly.
Operational use
The Uzi gun was designed by Major (Captain at the time)
Uziel GalUziel "Uzi" Gal , born Gotthard Glas , was a German-born- Israeli gun designer best remembered as the designer and namesake of the Uzi submachine gun....
of the
Israel Defense ForcesThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are Israel's military forces, comprising the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
(IDF) following the
1948 Arab-Israeli WarThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict.The war...
. The weapon was submitted to the Israeli army for evaluation and won out over more conventional designs due to its simplicity and economy of manufacture. Gal did not want the weapon to be named after him, but his request was ignored. The Uzi was officially adopted in 1951. First introduced to IDF special forces in 1954, the weapon was placed into general issue two years later. The first Uzis were equipped with a short, fixed wooden buttstock, and this is the version that initially saw combat during the 1956 Suez campaign. Later models would be equipped with a folding metal stock.
The Uzi was used as a
personal defense weaponA personal defense weapon is a compact semi-automatic or fully-automatic firearm similar in most respects to a submachine gun, but firing an armor-piercing round which gives a PDW better range, accuracy and armor-penetrating capability than a submachine gun firing pistol-caliber cartridges...
by rear-echelon troops, officers, artillery troops and tankers, as well as a frontline weapon by elite light infantry assault forces. The Uzi's compact size and firepower proved instrumental in clearing Syrian bunkers and Jordanian defensive positions during the 1967
Six-Day WarThe Six-Day War of June 5-10, 1967 was a war between the Israel army and the armies of the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Arab states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria also contributed troops and arms. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the...
. Though the weapon was phased out of frontline IDF service in the 1980s, some Uzis and Uzi variants were still used by a few IDF units until December 2003, when the IDF announced that it was retiring the Uzi from all IDF forces.
In general, the Uzi was a reliable weapon in military service. However, even the Uzi fell victim to extreme conditions of sand and dust. During the Sinai campaign of the
Yom Kippur WarThe Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to October 26, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of...
, IDF army units reaching the Suez reported that of all their small arms, only the 7.62 mm
FN MAGThe MAG is a Belgian 7.62 mm general purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale by Ernest Vervier. It is used by almost 70 countries, in 25 of those countries it is a standard-issue support weapon, it was produced locally in eight countries...
machine gun was still in operation.
The Uzi proved especially useful for
Mechanized infantryMechanized infantry are infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers , or infantry fighting vehicles for transport and combat ....
needing a compact weapon, and for infantry units clearing
bunkerA military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...
s and other confined spaces. However, its limited range and accuracy in automatic fire (approximately 50 m) could be disconcerting when encountering enemy forces armed with longer-range small arms, and heavier support weapons could not always substitute for a longer-ranged individual weapon. These failings eventually caused the phaseout of the Uzi from IDF forces.
The Uzi was also used in various conflicts outside Israel and the Middle East during the 1960s and 1970s. Quantities of 9 mm Uzi submachine guns were used by Portuguese cavalry, police, and security forces during the Portuguese Colonial Wars in Africa.
Worldwide arms sales
Total sales of the weapon to date (end 2001) has netted IMI over $2 billion (US), with over 90 countries using the weapons either for their armed forces or in law enforcement.
- The German Bundeswehr used the Uzi since 1959 under the name MP2 (especially for tank crews) and is now changing to the Heckler & Koch MP7
The MP7 is a German submachine gun manufactured by Heckler & Koch and chambered for the 4.6x30mm cartridge. It was designed in conjunction with the new cartridge to meet NATO requirements published in 1989 calling for a personal defense weapon class firearm with a greater ability to defeat body...
.
- The Irish Gardaí
of the Peace of Ireland", often rendered as "The Guardians of the Peace (of Ireland)" and known in everyday speech as the Gardaí is the police force of the Republic of Ireland....
Emergency Response Unit (ERU) are replacing the Uzi with the HK MP7.
- In Rhodesia
When the former colony of Northern Rhodesia changed its name to Zambia on independence in 1964, the colony of Southern Rhodesia changed its name to just plain 'Rhodesia'. The change had not yet been officialy ratified when Rhodesia declared itself independent on 11 November 1965...
in the late 1970s the Uzi was produced under license, from Israeli-supplied, and later made in Rhodesia, components. It was commonly called the "Rhuzi" (although the title was also applied to some indigenous submachine gunA submachine gun is a firearm that combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol, and is usually between the two in weight and size...
designs).
- Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
ordered a few thousand Mini Uzi and Uzi Carbines in 1990s. Currently those are deployed with Sri Lanka Army special forces regiment and Sri Lanka Police Special Task ForceThe Special Task Force is an elite special forces unit of the Sri Lanka Police specializing in Counter-Terrorist and Counter-Insurgency operations. It was formed in 1983 not as a military force but rather as a highly-specialised police unit...
as their primary weapon when providing security for VIPA Very Important Person, or VIP, is a person who is accorded special privileges due to his or her status or importance.Examples include celebrities, heads of state/heads of government, major employers, high rollers, politicians, high-level corporate officers, wealthy individuals, or any other...
s.
- The United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that falls under the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
, the agency that guards the President of the United States, have used the Uzi to provide covering fire while agents evacuated the President out of an area. When President Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
was shot on March 30, 1981The Reagan assassination attempt occurred on March 30, 1981, just 69 days into the presidency of Ronald Reagan. While leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr....
outside of the Washington Hilton Hotel by John Hinckley Jr., a Secret Service Special Agent pulled an Uzi out of a briefcase and covered the rear of the presidential limousine as it sped to safety with the wounded president inside.
Variants
- Uzi Carbine
A carbine is a firearm similar to a rifle or musket. Many carbines, especially modern designs, were developed from rifles, being essentially shortened versions of full rifles firing the same ammunition, although often at a lower velocity...
: standard Uzi with barrel extended to 400mm (16 inches), designed to meet minimum legal rifle overall length requirements for civilian sales in the United States when the stock is folded.
- Mini Uzi: a scaled-down version of the regular Uzi, first introduced in 1980. The Mini Uzi is 600mm (23.62 inches) long or 360mm (14.17 inches) long with the stock folded. Its barrel length is 197 mm (7.76 inches) and its muzzle velocity is 375 m/s (1230 f/s).
- Micro Uzi: an even further scaled down version of the Uzi, introduced in 1982. The Micro Uzi is 436mm (19.13 inches) long, reduced to 240mm with the stock folded. Its barrel length is 134mm (5.28 inches) and its muzzle velocity is 350 m/s (1148 f/s).
- UZI Pistol
The UZI Pistol is a semi-automatic, closed bolt, and blowback operated single action pistol in the Uzi family. It is basically a scaled down IMI Micro Uzi SMG with no shoulder stock or full-automatic firing capability...
, a semi-automatic pistol derived from the Micro Uzi. this variation is designed for civilian use.
Recent models of Mini and Micro Uzi are fitted with closed-type bolts.
Caliber variants
Most Uzis fire the 9x19mm Parabellum
cartridgeA cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim ....
, though some fire .22 LR,
.41 AEThe .41 Action Express is a pistol cartridge developed in the 1980s to reproduce the performance of the .41 Magnum cartridge in semi-automatic pistols.-History:...
, or
.45 ACPThe .45 ACP , also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a rimless pistol cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911. The .45 ACP has a good performance reputation...
. Caliber conversions exist in
.40 S&WThe .40 S&W is a rimless pistol cartridge developed jointly by Winchester and Smith & Wesson, two famous American firearms manufacturers. It uses .40-inch diameter bullets ranging in weight from 135 to 200 grains and operates at about 33,000 psi pressure...
and
10 mm autoThe 10mm Auto is a semi-automatic pistol cartridge developed by Jeff Cooper introduced in 1983 in the ill-fated Bren Ten pistol, and originally produced by ammunition manufacturer FFV Norma AB of Åmotfors, Sweden....
.
Available magazines include 20-, 25-, 32-, 40-, and 50-round magazines (9x19mm Parabellum), 10-round magazines (.41 and .22 LR), and 16-round magazines (.45 ACP). All of the above are manufactured by IMI. Other high-capacity magazines exist (e.g. 50-round magazines and 100-round drums in 9 mm) which are manufactured by companies such as Vector Arms.
Users
- Used by the Rapid Action Battalion
Rapid Action Battalion or RAB is an anti-crime and anti-terrorism elite force in Bangladesh. Falling under the jurisdiction of the Bangladeshi Ministry of Home Affairs, it consists of members of the Bangladesh Army, Navy, Air Force and Police. It was formed on 26 March, 2004 and started its...
.: Made under license by Fabrique Nationale. Phased out by the federal police. Still in use by the navy, but a replacement is planned.: Used by Carabineros de Chilethumb|250px|Carabineros de Chile, patrolling a street in [[Santiago, Chile|Santiago]]Carabineros de Chile are the uniformed Chilean national police force and gendarmery, created on April 27, 1927. Their mission is to maintain order and create public respect for the laws of the country...
(Chilean Police Forces).: Manufactured unlicensed copies of the Uzi and Micro Uzi called the ERO and Mini ERO respectively.: Clones produced by NorincoThe China North Industries Corporation , official English name Norinco, manufactures vehicles , machinery, optical-electronic products, oil field equipment, chemicals, light industrial products, explosives and blast materials, civil and military firearms and ammunition, etc...
as the Norinco 320.: Used by military police during the El Salvador Civil WarThe Salvadoran Civil War was a conflict in El Salvador.It was between the military-led government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front , a coalition or umbrella organization of five left-wing militias...
.: Uses the Mini Uzi variant.: Currently being replaced in service with the BundeswehrThe Bundeswehr comprises the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
by the Heckler & Koch MP7The MP7 is a German submachine gun manufactured by Heckler & Koch and chambered for the 4.6x30mm cartridge. It was designed in conjunction with the new cartridge to meet NATO requirements published in 1989 calling for a personal defense weapon class firearm with a greater ability to defeat body...
.: Police, navy.: Used by some counter-terrorist units: The Iranian Army purchased the gun from Israel before Islamic Revolution; it was extensively used during the Iran-Iraq warThe Iran–Iraq War, also known as the Imposed War and Holy Defense in Iran, and Saddām's Qādisiyyah in Iraq, and the First Gulf War , was a war...
.: Used by the Garda Síochána of the Peace of Ireland", often rendered as "The Guardians of the Peace (of Ireland)" and known in everyday speech as the Gardaí is the police force of the Republic of Ireland....
ERUEru may refer to:* Eru , a K-Pop singer and son of trot Korean singer Tae Jin Ah.* Eru Ilúvatar, the Elvish name for God in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium...
and Special BranchSpecial Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in Ireland's Garda Síochána...
. To be replaced by the Heckler & Koch MP7.: Built under license by Ka Pa Sa factories as the BA-94.: Made under a license agreement.: Micro Uzi used by Peruvian ArmyThe Peruvian Army is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and integrity of national territory on land through military force. Additional missions include assistance in safeguarding internal security, conducting disaster relief operations...
, air force, navy and special forces.: Portuguese ArmyThe Portuguese Army is the ground branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in co-operation with other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the defence of Portugal...
, formerly used by Polícia de Segurança PúblicaThe Polícia de Segurança Pública - PSP is the Portuguese police force that works in large urban areas. Rural towns and areas are under the protection of the Portuguese Republican National Guard...
during Portuguese Colonial WarThe Portuguese Colonial War , also known as the Overseas War in Portugal or in the former colonies as the War of liberation , was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974...
.: Panama Defense Forces Anti-Terror Unit UESAT until 1989.: Special forces, president's guard and special task force (STF).: Used by ROCMC Special Service Company units. - Special forces and the United States Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that falls under the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
, being phased out.: - UZI, Mini UZI and Micro UZI used by Dac Cong special force units. Rumor say that the People's Army now have a plant to improve the SMG design for using 7.62x25mm ammunition and some new parts like muzzle flash hider,... intended for manufacturing and domestic using.
See also
- List of submachine guns
- CZ Model 25
The CZ Model 25 was perhaps the best known of a series of Czechoslovak designed submachine guns introduced in 1948. There were four generally very similar submachine guns in this series: the Sa.23, Sa.24, Sa.25, and Sa.26...
- FMK-3 submachine gun
The FMK-3 is a selective fire, blowback operated submachine gun of Argentine origin and was designed by Fabricaciones Militares in 1974. It is chambered in 9 mm, with a rate of fire of 650 rounds per minute. 20, 32, and 40 round magazines are available for the FMK-3. 30,000 were produced for the...
- Vigneron (submachine gun)
The Vigneron is a submachine gun manufactured in Belgium during the 1950s. It used the 9x19mm NATO cartridge and was used by the Belgian Army until the 1980s. It had the ability to use MP40 type magazines which were popular in Europe at the time. The Vigneron is a selective fire weapon for short...
- Ruger MP9
The Ruger MP9 is a 9mm submachine gun/machine pistol introduced by Sturm, Ruger in 1995. It was created by Uziel Gal in the early 1980s. It is similar to the Uzi, his most famous creation, using a telescoping bolt, but fires from a closed bolt. The gun also has a quickly detachable barrel that is...
- MAC-10
The MAC-10 is a highly compact, blowback operated machine pistol developed by Gordon B...
- Socimi Type 821
The Socimi Type 821-SMG was a submachine gun manufactured in the 1980s by the firm of SOCIMI, Società Costruzioni Industriali Milano, SpA located in Milan, Italy.-Development:...
- Sten
The Sten was a family of British 9 mm submachine guns used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War...
External links