The American branch of FN Herstal (FN America) has announced that addition of a 5.7x28mm rounds to the prot folio of the NATO standard ammunition.
Belgian ammunition was created in the 1980s to be used in the FN P90 submachine gun and the FN Five-seveN pistol.
The 5.7x28mm round joins the NATO standard ammunition catalog, which already includes the 9x19mm NATO, the 5.56x45mm NATO, the 7.62x51mm NATO and the12.7x99mm NATO (also known as .50 cal) ammunition.
It is worth noting that the 5.56x45mm NATO and the 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition was also designed by the FN company and came into use as standard in NATO in 1957 and 1981 respectively.
According to the announcement by FN America, the introduction of NATO standardization for the 5.7x28mm rounds will ensure continuity of supply and interchangeability between different ammunition manufacturers for the Pact's armies using the same ammunition.
Sources: soldiersystems.net , fnherstal.com