During last week’s DSEI in London I had the opportunity to check out a few oddities which show up due to sovereign armaments agreements, such as this M230 McDonnell Douglas Chain Gun which was in the Heckler & Koch stand.
The M230 is used in the AgustaWestland AH1 Apache (AH-64D in the US and now AH-64E in UK service) which is in UK service. As you can see from the receiver markings below, it was manufactured in co-operation with McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co. by Royal Ordnance PLC. Royal Ordnance in turn, is owned by Heckler & Koch.
Why this circuitous process? Because many nations, including the UK require their arms be supplied and maintained by sovereign suppliers, or as we would say in the US, domestic suppliers. This requires original manufacturers to work closely with national firms and in some cases license their designs.
This situation also led me to see a GPMG FN Herstal MAG 58 variant in the H&K booth along with others, including this beauty which is currently manufactured in the US by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.
Royal Ordnance has not existed for many years. The serial number indicates manufacture at the Nottingham Small Arms Facility in 1996. HK and RO were both subsidiaries of BAE in 1996. NSAF still exists as the UK office of HK after BAE Systems both wound up Royal Ordnance and sold HK back to the Germans. I didn’t get a chance to speak to the HK guys about this gun but I presume either HK has since manufactured them and it was just easier to bring an old UK gun, or it was there to encourage interest in a version manufactured at Oberndorf.