This weeks article is dedicated to all the men and women serving this nation as part of the Government workforce…
The FN P90 is a selective fire personal defense weapon (PDW) designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. The P90′s name is taken from 1990, the year it was introduced. The P90 was created in response to NATO requests for a replacement for 9×19mm Parabellum firearms; it was designed as a compact but powerful firearm for vehicle crews, operators of crew-served weapons, support personnel, special forces and counter-terrorist groups.
The P90 was designed by FN in conjunction with the FN Five-seven pistol and FN 5.7×28mm ammunition. Development of the P90 began in 1986, and production commenced in 1990, whereupon the 5.7×28mm ammunition was redesigned and shortened. A modified version of the P90 with a magazine adapted to use the new ammunition was introduced in 1993, and the Five-seven pistol was subsequently introduced as a companion weapon using the same 5.7×28mm ammunition.
The P90 was developed and initially marketed as a personal defense weapon, but it could also be considered a submachine gun or compact assault rifle. Featuring a compact bullpup design with an integrated reflex sight and fully ambidextrous controls, the P90 is an unconventional weapon with a futuristic appearance. Its design incorporates several innovations such as a unique top-mounted magazine and FN’s small-caliber, high-velocity 5.7×28mm ammunition.
The P90 is a selective fire, straight blowback-operated weapon with a cyclic rate of fire of 900 RPM (rounds per minute). The weapon is chambered for FN’s 5.7×28mm ammunition, and although it was developed and initially marketed as a personal defense weapon, it could also be considered a submachine gun or compact assault rifle. Its unusual shape is based on extensive ergonomic research. The weapon is grasped by means of a thumbhole in the frame that acts as a pistol grip, as well as an oversized trigger guard that acts as a foregrip for the shooter’s support hand. The P90 fires from a closed bolt for maximum accuracy, and its design makes extensive use of polymers for reduced weight and cost. Overall, the weapon is relatively lightweight, weighing 5.6 lbs empty, or 6.6 lbs with a loaded 50-round magazine.
The P90 is notable for being fully ambidextrous—it can be operated by right or left-handed shooters with equal ease, and without making any modifications to the weapon. FN Herstal has described it as the “first fully ambidextrous individual automatic weapon.” The charging handle, magazine release and backup iron sights are symmetrically distributed on both sides of the weapon, and the firing selector is located directly at the foot of the trigger, where it can be operated from either side by the shooter’s trigger finger or support hand thumb. When fired, the P90 ejects spent cartridge casings downward through a chute located behind the grip, so spent cases are kept out of the shooter’s line of sight.
The P90 is currently in service with military and police forces in over 40 countries, such as Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Malaysia, Poland, and the United States. In the United States, the P90 is in use with over 200 law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service. The standard selective fire P90 is restricted to military and law enforcement customers, but since 2005, a semi-automatic carbine version has been offered to civilian shooters as the PS90.
The P90 can be fitted with a sling for greater ease of carry, and since the weapon has a fixed stock (as opposed to having a collapsing or folding stock), it can be quickly deployed when needed. The weapon’s smooth, rounded contours prevent it from snagging on the shooter’s clothing or equipment, and a small vertical protrusion is provided at the front end of the weapon’s frame to prevent the shooter’s hand from accidentally slipping in front of the muzzle while shooting. A hollow compartment inside the rear of the weapon’s frame—accessed by removing the buttplate—allows for convenient storage of a cleaning kit.
The P90 was designed to have a length no greater than a man’s shoulder width, to allow it to be easily carried and maneuvered in tight spaces, such as the inside of an armored vehicle. To achieve this design goal, the weapon’s design utilizes the unconventional bullpup configuration, in which the action and magazine are located behind the trigger and alongside the shooter’s face so that there is no wasted space in the stock. The P90′s dimensions are also minimized by its unique horizontally mounted feeding system, wherein the box magazine sits parallel to the barrel, fitting flush with the top of the weapon’s frame. The weapon overall has an extremely compact profile—it is the most compact submachine gun to be made with a fixed stock. The standard version of the weapon has an overall length of 19.7 inches, a height of 8.3 inches, and a width of 2.2 inches.
The P90 requires minimal maintenance, and it can be disassembled quickly and easily. It is a modular firearm, consisting of four main component groups: the barrel and optical sight group, the moving parts group, the frame and trigger group, and the hammer group. The P90′s barrel is cold hammer-forged and chrome-lined, with an overall length of 10.4 inches. The barrel has eight rifling grooves with a right-hand twist rate of 1:9, and it is equipped with a diagonally cut flash suppressor that also acts as a recoil compensator. The stated service life of the barrel is 20,000 rounds. The P90 uses an internal hammer striking mechanism and a trigger mechanism with a three-position rotary dial fire control selector, located at the foot of the trigger. The dial has three settings: S – safe, 1 – semi-automatic fire, and A – fully automatic fire. When set on A, the P90′s fire selector provides a two-stage trigger operation similar to that of the Steyr AUG assault rifle—pulling the trigger back slightly produces semi-automatic fire, and pulling the trigger fully to the rear produces fully automatic fire.
The P90 and its 5.7×28mm ammunition were developed by FN Herstal in response to NATO requests for a replacement for the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge and associated pistols and submachine guns. NATO called for two types of weapons chambered for a new cartridge—one a shoulder-fired weapon, and the other a handheld weapon. According to NATO, these new weapons, termed personal defense weapons (PDWs), were to provide “personal protection in last-resort situations when the user is directly endangered by the enemy [...].” In 1989, NATO published document D/296, outlining a number of preliminary specifications for these weapons:
- The new cartridge was to have greater range, accuracy, and terminal performance than the 9×19mm cartridge. Additionally, it was to be capable of penetrating body armor.
- The shoulder-fired personal defense weapon was to weigh less than 6.6 lbs, with a magazine capacity of at least 20 rounds.
- The handheld personal defense weapon (pistol) was to weigh less than 2.2 lbs, although a weight of 1.5 lbs was deemed desirable; it was to have a magazine capacity of no less than 20 rounds.
- Both weapons were to be sufficiently compact to be carried hands-free on the user’s person at all times, whether in the cab of a vehicle or the cockpit of an aircraft, and were to perform effectively in all environments and weather conditions.
Following the P90′s introduction, FN revised the 5.7×28mm ammunition. The new variation, designated the SS190, used a projectile 0.11 inches shorter in length than that of the SS90. This allowed it to be used more conveniently in the 5.7×28mm FN Five-seven pistol, which was under development at that time. The SS190 projectile also had a heavier weight, and a more conventional construction with an aluminium and steel core. The first prototypes of the SS190 were created in 1992, and the design was finalized in 1993, replacing the SS90. A modified version of the P90, with a magazine adapted to use the shortened ammunition, was then introduced in the same year. Several special cartridge variations were also developed, such as the L191 tracer round and the SB193 subsonic round for use with a sound-suppressed P90.
The P90 uses a unique horizontally mounted feeding system—patented in the United States—that contributes to the weapon’s compact profile and unusual appearance. U.S. Patent 4,905,394 (“Top mounted longitudinal magazine”) was awarded in 1990, naming René Predazzer as the sole inventor. The detachable box magazine is mounted parallel to the P90′s barrel, fitting flush with the top of the weapon’s frame, and it contains 50 rounds of ammunition, which lie in two rows at a right angle to the barrel. As the cartridges are pushed back by spring pressure and arrive at the rear end of the magazine, they are fed as a single row into a spiral feed ramp and rotated 90 degrees, aligning them with the chamber. The magazine body is composed of polymer, and it is semi-transparent to allow the shooter to see the amount of ammunition remaining at any time.
The P90 was originally equipped with the Ring Sights HC-14-62 reflex sight, but the current weapon is instead fitted with the Ring Sights MC-10-80 reflex sight, which was specifically designed for it. The MC-10-80 has a polymer housing and uses a forward-aimed fiber optic collector to illuminate the daytime reticle, which consists of a large circle of about 180 Minutes of Angle (MOA), with a 20 MOA circle surrounding a dot in the center. The night reticle consists of an open T that is primarily illuminated by a tritium module and ambient light drawn in by an upward-facing collector. The sight is adjustable for both windage and elevation, and it can be used in conjunction with night vision equipment. As backup in case the reflex sight is damaged, a set of fixed iron sights is provided on each side of the reflex sight housing.
The P90 has provisions for mounting a number of different types of accessories, including tactical lights and laser aiming devices. A sling can be attached to the P90 for greater ease of carry, or it can be fitted with various sound suppressors such as the Gemtech SP90, which was designed specifically for the weapon in cooperation with FN Herstal. This stainless steel suppressor with a black oxide finish is built according to MIL-SPECs, including saltwater corrosion resistance. It has a length of 7.2 inches, a diameter of 1.4 inches and a weight of 1.5 lbs. When subsonic ammunition is used in conjunction with the suppressor, it reduces the sound signature of the P90 by 33 dB. A small case collector pouch for the P90 is also available, which fits over the ejection port and collects spent cases as they are ejected downward; the pouch will collect up to one hundred cases before filling.
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