PMP developing automatic variant of Inkunzi Personal Area Weapon

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Denel PMP is in the process of developing an automatic variant of its 20 mm Inkunzi Personal Area Weapon (PAW), able to fire 200 rounds a minute.

Carel van der Merwe, Executive Manager R&D and Innovation at PMP, told defenceWeb that the new version, called Inkunzi Strike, should be ready for demonstration in September this year in time for the Africa Aerospace and Defence exhibition. He said the company is building a second prototype of the weapon, which is completely different to the original Inkunzi, but uses the same 20×42 mm bursting ammunition.

The Inkunzi Strike will be smaller and lighter than a Browning machinegun and be able to fire 200 rounds per minute, van der Merwe said, and will be vehicle or tripod mounted. The original Inkunzi PAW is a relatively light and compact infantry weapon.

The new weapon is company funded, with PMP actively seeking customers for it. Van der Merwe said a lot of interest has already been shown in the Inkunzi Strike. Sister company Denel Vehicle Systems is working in collaboration with PMP to produce turrets that can fit the weapon.

Last year PMP began production of the Inkunzi PAW (formerly called the Neopup) for its first international client. Another client, in the Middle East, recently ordered the weapon and PMP is currently delivering weapons and ammunition to this customer. Shipments will go out in May and June.

Van der Merwe told defenceWeb that PMP has received quite a lot of interest in Inkunzi PAW and Inkunzi Strike, both locally from the South African National Defence Force and foreign countries.

PMP purchased the full rights and intellectual property from Neopup for the 20 x 42 mm weapon and production of the weapon. The Inkunzi PAW (meaning Bull) is a semi-automatic weapon that fires bursting ammunition and can be comfortably fired by a single rifleman as an area weapon to a range of up to 1 000 metres, although effective range is up to 400 metres. It holds up to five rounds in a conventional box magazine. The entire barrel/bolt group recoils within its housing to decrease recoil.