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If anybody still cares.....it's a derivative of the Floro Mk-9. Actually, it's a SAW-9 or MP9 SAW. http://epaper.taihainet.com/newspic/UploadFiles_6334/200709/20070930072326591.jpg The Special Action Weapon (SAW-9 or MP9-SAW) is a short-sized submachinegun engineered and manufactured by the GA (Governmental Arsenal of the Republic of the Philippines) with the collaboration of the previously unknown Safariland Firearms Manufacturing Corporation (which seems to have no ties with the notorious firm of "Safariland" that manufactures holsters and firearms accessories so far), with the task of providing the National Police and the Armed Forces of the Republic of the Philippines with a compact weapon to fight criminal and terrorist activities; the Republic of the Philippines has started whatsoever a massive armaments modernization program since the terror attacks of 9/11/2001, which saw the long hands of Al-Qaeda start agreements and liaisons with the muslim integrist groups in the southern part of the Philippinean archipelago; these very same groups started hence a fierce guerrilla activity against the central Philippinean government, and delivered several attacks against tourists in the area. The Armed Forces (ANP) and the National Police (PNP) of the Republic of the Philippines are massively engaged in fighting this menace.
The Philippinean National Police has reached in the past years an agreement with the national FLORO INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION for the purchase of several thousands of their MK-9 and MK-9A submachineguns, thus "re-animating" a FLORO project that had been launched in the late 1990s and declared dead after a short amount of time (the Philippines aren't the place that the international Military and LE communities usually address to when they have to find modern weaponries for duty). Besides, in the meanwhile, the GA has teamed up with the development groups of the AFP (especially with the Filipino Marines) to develop weapons such the MSSR marksman rifle, the NCWS integrally-suppressed assault rifle, and ultimately, the MP9-SAW submachinegun. The Republic of the Philippines has been massively armed during the years with US-made M16-A1 assault rifles, but those weapons are now aging; the country has thus acquired manufacturing capabilities, and while the State-owned GA has developed the above-mentioned weapons, in the meanwhile doing its best to re-arsenal the existing M16-A1 rifles, the privately-owned FLORO INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION is engaged in the manufacture of two new M16-based, .5'56mm firearms: their PDW (which is all in all a short-barreled M16-A1 receiver with proprietary magazine, flat top with iron sights and no carrying handle, side-folding wire stock and M16-A2 - style handguard) is in competition for massive issue to the AFP for those units which personnel needs a Personal Defense Weapon better than a pistol; and their MK-4 assault rifle, which is all in all an M16-A1 assault rifle with no carrying handle, iron sights, and a top Weaver rail. FLORO INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION has also developed a semiautomatic-only, should-be civilian-legal version of their MK-9 submachinegun, dubbed the "Federal" selfloading pistol. They also import rough parts from the People's Republic of China to manufacture a pistol called the "Viper"; this is a Tokarev-style selfloading handgun with an 8-rounds capacity single-stack magazine, chambered for the .9x19mm-Parabellum caliber, made in steel and lightweight alloy, with a match-style light trigger and working in single-action only, with a decocking lever as safety. The weapon has no provision for military/LE issue whatsoever. The Special Action Weapon (SAW-9 or MP9-SAW) has thus born with the task of providing the AFP and the PNP with a short submachinegun that had to be as "modular" as possible, and had to be manufactured with national capabilities. The Republic of Philippines manufactures their M16-based issue weapons by importing most parts from the United States of America, their best-choice distributor is DPMS, which can offer low-cost off-the-shelf parts and complete weapons of a decent quality for the budget that such a Country as the Republic of the Philippines can afford. Several features of the Special Action Weapon hovever point out how this weapon has been manufactured by using as much national capabilities as possible, with poor or no use of importing parts. thank you |


