Steyr introduced their TMP (Tactical Machine Pistol) and its semiauto SPP counterpart in 1989, but it was never a very popular item. After the company was purchased, the new ownership decided to scrap the TMP (along with other low-performing product lines). At that point, Swiss firm B&T purchased the whole project for a nominal one Austrian Schilling and began to develop it themselves. B&T made a number of reliability improvements to the basic design, and perhaps most importantly added a folding stock to what had previously been a machine pistol design. They now offer it as a semiauto civilian pistol or carbine, and as a PDW or submachine gun to military clients. It has been adopted by a number of units around the world in a variety of roles including pilot survival weapon, maritime boarding party armament, and compact special forces SMG.