The Austrian Bundesheer issues proper combat knives to all soldiers: The Glock FM 78. These are high-quality knives made by Glock in Austria and suitable for general utility tasks and hard use.

The Glock FM 78 is a simple and durable tool. It was developed in co-operation with the Austrian special forces Jagdkommando. Glock knives are used by various armies and armed special units in Austria, Denmark, Germany (GSG9), Taiwan, and South Korea to name a few.

Instead of a fancy name and super-duper features, the knife is a plain, honest utility knife with an affordable price tag. They omitted all superfluous details and the only special feature is the bottle opener, which is just a bent crossguard.

Differing from traditional puukko-knives and all folding knives, the Glock knife isn't a precision instrument you'd have to handle with care. You can use the knife for throwing and prying ammo crates open, and the EPD coating protects the blade in pretty much all environments and also from wear. Note that the end of the handle isn't made for hitting and could be damaged but it would be cosmetic only.

The Glock Knife as a Bayonet

Some countries have legislation concerning bayonets. Whether the Glock FM 78 classifies as a bayonet is anyone's guess. Commonly, bayonets have very obvious slots and locking mechanisms for attaching to a rifle but these are nowhere to be seen on the Glock. Many users of the knife probably don't even know about this!

The end of the handle has a detachable plug but it's very tight and removing it is likely to leave marks. You can carefully press a thin blade into the groove and rotate it around the plug to make a slightly larger groove where you can push a thicker blade and progressively continue until the plug comes off.

Removing the plug reveals a 12 x 39 mm hole, officially for a bayonet adapter, but ingenious people can use it for anything else.