P90

The P90 was developed between 1986 and 1987 in Herstal, Belgium. Its goal was to replace the pistol-caliber carbines which were in use at the time by military and law enforcement personnel, as it had become evident that such weapons were ineffective against body armour, even with the longer barrel length compared to handguns.

The gun was designed in conjunction with the new 5.7x28mm cartridge, which has a greater penetrating capability, lethal range and flatter trajectory than most other pistol caliber cartridges such as the NATO-standard 9x19mm Parabellum round. Initially the weapon used a 5.7x28mm SS90 cartridge (with a lightweight, roundnose, jacketed projectile and a polymer core), as well as tracer, training (reduced range), sub-caliber (increased velocity and effective range of up to 250 m) and blank ammunition. The first prototype firing this ammunition was completed in October 1986, and over 3,000 submachine guns were produced in this configuration until 1993 in a low-rate initial production run.