Heckler & Koch is a German-based company which operates in the UK under the name NSAF Ltd. It describes itself as a “world-wide leading company in small arms production” and has been supplying weapons across the globe for the past 60 years, including pistols, assault rifles, submachine guns and sniper rifles
(Heckler & Koch website). It currently manufactures the British Army’s primary assault rifle – the SA80
(MoD).
In the run up to and during the Arab Spring it applied for UK arms
export licences to Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman
(Export Control Organisation, 23.11.2012).