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The kilogram-force ( kgf or kgF), or kilopond ( kp, from ), is a non-standard gravitational metric unit of force. It is not accepted for use with the International System of Units (SI) NIST Guide to the SI, Chapter 5: Units Outside the SI and is deprecated for most uses. The kilogram-force is equal to the magnitude of the force exerted on one kilogram of mass in a gravitational field (standard gravity, a conventional value approximating the average magnitude of gravity on Earth). The international system of units (SI) – United States Department of Commerce, NIST Special Publication 330, 2008, p. 52 That is, it is the weight of a kilogram under standard gravity. One kilogram-force is defined as .NIST Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) Special Publication 811, (1995) page 51 BIPM SI brochure , chapter 2.2.2. Similarly, a gram-force is , and a milligram-force is .
Prior to this, the units were widely used in much of the world. They are still in use for some purposes; for example, they are used to specify tension of bicycle , draw weight of bows in archery, and tensile strength of bond wire, for informal references to pressure (as the technically incorrect kilogram per square centimetre, omitting -force, the kilogram -force per square centimetre being the technical atmosphere, the value of which is very near those of both the bar and the standard atmosphere), and to define the "metric horsepower" (PS) as 75 metre-kiloponds per second. In addition, the kilogram force was the standard unit used for Vickers hardness testing.
In 1940s, Germany, the thrust of a rocket engine was measured in kilograms-force, in the Soviet Union it remained the primary unit for thrust in the Russian space program until at least the late 1980s. Dividing the thrust in kilograms-force on the mass of an engine or a rocket in kilograms conveniently gives the thrust to weight ratio, dividing the thrust on propellant consumption rate (mass flow rate) in kilograms per second gives the specific impulse in seconds.
The term "kilopond" has been declared obsolete.European Economic Community, Council Directive of 18 October 1971 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to units of measurement
The decanewton or dekanewton ( daN), exactly 10 N, is used in some fields as an approximation to the kilogram-force, because it is close to the 9.80665 N of 1 kgf.
The gram-force is of a kilogram-force.
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