Type Battle rifle In service 2014–present Designer MKEK | Place of origin Turkey Used by See Users Designed 2009 | |
 | ||
The MPT-76 (stands for Turkish: Milli Piyade Tüfeği, English: National Infantry Rifle) is a modular rifle designed by MKEK Kalekalıp and produced by MKEK to meet the demands of the Turkish Armed Forces and to replace its aging Heckler & Koch G3 battle rifles due to most of them being near the end of their service life. The MPT-76 was designed for robust high altitude, all weather combat, capable of functioning in extreme hot and cold weather. The MKEK MPT is a rifle intended to take abuse and extreme mistreatment and still maintain high accuracy and reliability in order to survive in true battle environments. The Turkish government has invested USD 22 million into the project.
Contents
It made its first public appearance at the Eurosatory 2014, ADEX 2014 and the MSPO 2014 events.
History
After the first prototypes were built in 2008 as the Mehmetçik-1 in 5.56×45mm NATO, the rifle received negative feedback from Turkish soldiers testing it who reported that they preferred the 7.62×51mm NATO round which has far greater stopping power and range similar to those of the existing G3 service rifles. The proposed Mehmetcik-1 was therefore cancelled after the first prototype and engineers started the redesign process.
The first batch of 200 MPT-76s were delivered on May 18, 2014 and received positive feedback. The rifle was reported to be extremely accurate, reliable, and outmatched the G3 in all categories. The Turkish Army plans to gradually phase out its G3 and to make the MPT-76 its main service rifle. Azerbaijan plans to produce parts of the rifle in cooperation with Turkey.
Serial production began in 2015. The initial phase of the project will see a total of 35,014 MPT-76's being produced in two tranches. The first tranche of the initial phase, consisting of 20,000 rifles was contracted to state-owned company Machines and Chemical Industries Board (MKEK) in June 2015. The second tranche, consisting of 15,014 rifles, was contracted with local company Kalekalip in December 2015.
The first batch of rifles was ready for delivery to the Turkish military in January 2017.
Design
Its design was based on the AR-15, but with the gas piston system influenced by the HK417. It has a Picatinny rail system and mounting options for an under-barrel shotgun and grenade launcher.
Variants
The following are planned to be in production: