The M9 Bayonet, officially known as the M9 Phrobis III, is a multi-purpose
knife
A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...
and
bayonet
A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...
officially adopted in 1986 by the United States. It has a
blade
A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Historic ...
and is issued with a sheath designed to double as a wire cutter.
History
The M9 bayonet was designed and developed by
Charles A. "Mickey" Finn at his R&D company,
Qual-A-Tec
Charles A. "Mickey" Finn (June 21, 1938 – April 24, 2007) was an American designer who specialized in designing and producing weapons systems for the U.S. military. He retired from defense work and began designing sporting equipment, including th ...
.
It is a refined copy of the Russian
AKM
The AKM () is an assault rifle designed by Soviet small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1959. It is the most ubiquitous rifle of the Kalashnikov rifles. It was developed as a replacement to the AK-47 introduced a decade prior.
Introduc ...
6H3 bayonet.
[http://www.tactical-life.com/online/tactical-knives/akm-47-bayonet-from-battle/, AKM-47 Bayonet From Battle. by Steven Dick] He later produced it under the
Phrobis III name, filling a military contract for 325,000 units.
Buck Knives
Buck Knives is an American knife manufacturer founded in Mountain Home, Idaho and now located in Post Falls, Idaho. The company has a long history through five generations of the Buck family from 1902 to the present day. Buck Knives primarily man ...
was contracted to make 300,000 units and sold a commercial version under their own name. Finn's designs proved extremely popular, and were widely counterfeited and sold illegally by other makers.
In 1989, Finn received , however, unlicensed copies continued to flow unchecked into the United States from Asia and Mexico, cutting into legitimate sales.
After the Phrobis III bayonet contract was completed, rights to the M9 reverted to the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
and there were many subsequent versions from other companies. It is issued by the armed forces of the U.S. and other countries, and has also been sold commercially in various versions.
Some production runs of the M9 have a
fuller and some do not, depending upon which contractor manufactured that batch and what the military specs were at the time. The M9 Bayonet partially replaced the older
M7 Bayonet
The M7 bayonet (NSN 1095-00-017-9701) is a bayonet that was used by the U.S. military for the M16 rifle, it can also be used with the M4 carbine as well as many other assault rifles, carbines and combat shotguns. It can be used as a fighting knif ...
, introduced in 1964. Although it has been claimed that the M9 may be more prone to breakage than the older M7, the M9 bayonet has a 20% thicker blade and tang (0.235" vs. 0.195") and a 75% greater cross-sectional area of steel in the blade than the M7.
Variants
The M11 knife (not strictly a bayonet as it has no mounting catch or muzzle ring; more of a revision to the Buckmaster 184/188 knife, which was the basis for the Phrobis XM-9 prototype bayonet), or M11 EOD is a version of the M9 specialized for
explosive ordnance disposal
Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the milit ...
(EOD). It has some extra features, such as a hammer pommel, but uses the same blade and sheath as the M9.
Makes
There have been five main makes of M9s: Phrobis, Buck (subcontracted by Phrobis III during the original Army contract), LanCay, Ontario and Tri-Technologies. Starting in 1987, Phrobis subcontracted Buck, finishing up in 1989. It was around this time that Buck sold commercial M9s as well, which it did up to 1997.
LanCay got its first contract in March 1992 (taking over production from Buck) for 30 (later 50) thousand knives (with General Cutlery as a subcontractor); in 1994, there was another contract issued for about 100,000 improved M9 models. In 1999, a contract for 25,000 knives was split between LanCay and Ontario (12,500 each).
Ontario Knife Company also participated in later contracts, and is one of the current (as of 2005) contractors for producing them. These can be identified by the blades, which are marked "M-9 / ONTARIO / KNIFE CO / USA".
In 2012, Tri-Technologies was awarded a contract for 40,000 M9s marked "M9/06MA8/USA".
[http://government-contracts.insidegov.com/l/8551655/W56HZV12C0327 ]
Comparison
The
M7 bayonet
The M7 bayonet (NSN 1095-00-017-9701) is a bayonet that was used by the U.S. military for the M16 rifle, it can also be used with the M4 carbine as well as many other assault rifles, carbines and combat shotguns. It can be used as a fighting knif ...
, introduced in 1964, was used as a bayonet on the
M16 rifle
The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...
and as a fighting knife. The M9 multipurpose bayonet system is used as a bayonet on the M16 series rifle, on the
M4 series carbine, as a fighting knife, as a general field and utility knife, as a
wire cutter
Diagonal pliers (also known as wire cutters, diagonal cutting pliers, diagonal cutters, side cutters, dikes or Nippy cutters) are pliers intended for the cutting of wire (they are generally not used to grab or turn anything). The plane define ...
when used on the
sheath, and as a saw. The M9 also fits the
Mossberg 590
The Mossberg 500 (M500) is a series of pump action shotguns manufactured by O.F. Mossberg & Sons. The 500 series comprises widely varying models of hammerless repeaters, all of which share the same basic receiver and action, but differ in bore ...
Special Purpose
shotgun
A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...
.
Buck Knives production
An overview of M9 types made by
Buck Knives
Buck Knives is an American knife manufacturer founded in Mountain Home, Idaho and now located in Post Falls, Idaho. The company has a long history through five generations of the Buck family from 1902 to the present day. Buck Knives primarily man ...
, one of the manufacturers of M9 bayonets. The 5,000 for the U.S. Marines are included under the U.S. Army numbers in this listing.
Users
* : Security forces
* :
Australian Defence Force
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...
* :
Lautaro Special Operations Brigade
The Lautaro Special Operations Brigade (''Brigada de Operaciones Especiales "Lautaro," BOE'') is a Special operations formation of the Chilean Army. It is made up of units of special forces, land, mountain and paratroopers, commandos, tactical dive ...
* :
Special Duties Unit
The Special Duties Unit (SDU; ), nicknamed the "Flying Tigers" (), is the elite tactical unit of the Hong Kong Police Force tasked with countering terrorist attacks, hostage rescue, underwater search and recovery, and tackling serious crime i ...
* :
Armed forces of the Netherlands
* :
New Zealand Defence Force
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF; mi, Te Ope Kātua o Aotearoa, "Line of Defence of New Zealand") are the armed forces of New Zealand. The NZDF is responsible for the protection of the national security of New Zealand and her realm, prom ...
* :
Polish Armed Forces
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, abbreviated ''SZ RP''; popularly called ''Wojsko Polskie'' in Poland, abbreviated ''WP''—roughly, the "Polish Military") are the national armed forces of ...
* :
Singapore Armed Forces
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military services of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A military component of the Ministry of Defence (MINDE ...
* :
Royal Thai Armed Forces
The Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) ( th, กองทัพไทย; ) are the armed forces of the Kingdom of Thailand.
The nominal head of the Thai Armed Forces (จอมทัพไทย; ) is the King of Thailand. The armed forces are ...
* :
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
(other than the Marine Corps which uses the
OKC-3S bayonet)
See also
*
Aircrew Survival Egress Knife
The Aircrew Survival Egress Knife or ASEK is a U.S. Army aircrew survival knife, designed and initially manufactured by the Ontario Knife Company, and entered service in 2003.
Development and Adoption
The ASEK replaced the "knife, hunting, surv ...
—ASEK; special knife adopted circa 2003 for Army aviators
*
OKC-3S Bayonet—USMC bayonet; adopted in early 2000s for M16/M4 family
*
KA-BAR—fighting knife
References
External links
Army Fact File on BayonetsPDF of patent (buck-184.com)Olive Drab on the M9{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Bayonets of the United States
Military equipment introduced in the 1980s