Vol. VII No. 1
The Dutch Uzi: Service Variants of the Army, Navy & Air Force, 1957–1997
Abstract
The well-known Israeli Uzi sub-machine gun saw service with the Dutch Armed Forces between 1957 and 1997. Other than the Israel Defense Forces, the Netherlands were the first nation to adopt this weapon for their conventional military forces—and also the first to use the Uzi in combat. The Dutch Navy, Air Force, and Army all adopted the Israeli sub-machine gun, although each service selected a slightly different configuration, including variants with different stocks and modes of fire. This article presents a brief history of the Uzi in Dutch service, tracing the primary variants in service with all three branches of the armed forces and examining how this variety highlights a recurring small arms acquisition trend within the Dutch military.
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Issue: Vol. VII No. 1
Published: 25 May 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52357/armax13327
Peer-reviewed?: Yes
Keywords: Uzi, Netherlands, licensed production, sub-machine guns, Cold War
Bibliographic Information
Mathieu Willemsen, ‘The Dutch Uzi: Service Variants of the Army, Navy & Air Force, 1957–1997’, Armax: The Journal of Contemporary Arms, Vol. VII № 1 (2021), pp. 85–94, <https://doi.org/10.52357/armax13327>.
About the Author
Mathieu Willemsen is the Curator of the Nationaal Militair Museum (National Military Museum) of the Netherlands. He studied Museology and Art History, and went on to work in the museum sector. In 2004, Mr. Willemsen helped arrange the exhibition ‘Kalashnikov: Weapons without Frontiers’ at the Dutch Army Museum. He is a former Secretary of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Arms and Military History (ICOMAM). Mr. Willemsen has written numerous articles on arms and munitions for a variety of international magazines, and is the author of the award-winning book Experiment and Trial: Prototypes and Test Models of International Military Small Arms of the 19th and Early 20th Century (Vienna: Verlag Militaria, 2012). He is currently conducting research concerning the development of early Dutch military flintlock muskets.