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Belgian Police are to acquire 1500 new FN SCAR SC carbines chambered in .300BLK. The Belgian interior minister has described the move as equipping the police with weapons equal to those used by criminals.
Currently, Belgian police are armed with a mixture of 9x19mm submachine guns including the UZI, the Heckler & Koch MP5 and the Steyr AUG 9x19mm carbine. It is hoped that the new carbine will give armed Belgian officers better firepower for encounters with well-armed criminals. De Standard reports, however, that the new carbines will be semi-automatic only, this is fairly common practice among European police forces.
The Belgian police guns will be the first major adoption of the new .300BLK SCAR SC. FN Herstal officially introduced the new carbine at the recent 2019 ENFORCE TAC exposition in Germany, check out Eric’s article here.
Belgian Interior Minister, Pieter De Crem, said:
The new and more efficient weapon increases the security and effectiveness of our police officers and women and enables them to fight criminals with equal means. Moreover, this collective purchase is cost-effective and enables us to organize the courses even more effectively.
Belgian news reports note that with 1,500 carbines ordered, the first 175 are expected to be delivered this year. De Crem also explained the benefits of consolidating to just one type of armed police carbine, rather than three:
Of all police officers have followed the .300 training or further training, it is immediately safer if, for example, the police forces provide mutual assistance. All police officers on site can then handle, protect and store the collective weapons present in a safe and same way. Anyone who changes zone or force and has already completed the training will not have to retrain with regard to the weapon.
The SCAR SC weighs 3.1kg or 7 lbs, is just over 21 inches with its compact telescoping butt retracted and has a 7.5-inch barrel (although the .300BLK barrel appears slightly longer than the 5.56×45 model). The Belgian guns will likely include FN’s new RFID tag system, FN Smartcore, for electronic inventory management.
