Today’s ground forces are preparing for tomorrow’s demanding missions in which combat strategies and tactics must be seamlessly implemented – from open to urban terrain and through a three-block war scenario. Saab has extensive experience in supporting ground forces with solutions designed to meet the need for enhanced operational capabilities at a higher level of effectiveness. A weapon’s multi-role capacity can mean the difference between combat success and failure. In 1978 during a patrol mission in a valley in Lebanon, Norwegian soldiers….
Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was founded in 1982 and was centered on Ronnie Barrett’s idea of a shoulder-fired .50 BMG rifle. Many…
The Global War on Terrorism has put to the test many new weapon systems adopted in the post Cold War period. Many of those weapons and tactics had never really been tested in a real combat environment. They worked well in the lab and in testing but never really saw combat until the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Small arms were no exception; in fact they would be the first to be put on trial….
ABOVE: We first spotted this polymer and brass .50 caliber BMG ammo at MARCORSYSCOM’s display at MDM way back in 2009. We’re pleased to report…
The Galil, the first IDF assault rifle, has been completely redesigned by IWI engineers developing a version that incorporates a fair number of improvements concerning ergonomics and materials, giving to this military classic a new operative life. When Ysrael Galil and Ya’akov Lior designed the Galil they were solving an emergency. During 1973, Israelis were equipped with the Belgian FAL in two versions: the “Aleph” model as individual weapon and the “Beth” model…
The Russians still say that the 65 year old Avtomat Kalashnikova would soldier on for decades, yet they are painfully aware that it’s getting out of touch with modernity – despite numerous modernizations. That’s precisely why they created the AK-12, or 5th Generation Avtomat Kalashnikova, presented in January 2012. The AK-100 series successor wasn’t created overnight – the first models were already evaluated by 2009. The new rifle even got designated then as the AK-200 – but still arguments abounded whether that should be another modified 100-series rifle….
Recently there has been an upswing in interest regarding the weapons of North Korea. This is due not only to the current saber rattling in the region and the changing of the leadership, but to how difficult it is to obtain accurate information as well as the disinformation campaigns that have been successfully waged by the North Korean propaganda bureaus. Heebum Hong and Dan Shea have studied the small arms of North Korea for decades….
Col. Lewis was a United States Military Academy (West Point) graduate (1884) and spent twenty-five years in the United States Army assigned primarily to Coastal Artillery units. He was a keen inventor and received a number of patents for artillery rangefinders and other artillery related equipment. He also studied in Europe for several years learning about the armament industry. It was while in Europe that he discovered that America was at least ten years behind in artillery and small arms manufacturing – particularly machine guns….
It was clear that the EF88 is significantly better than its predecessors, and exhibits all of the traits of a competitive modern assault rifle. Within its niche as an advanced bullpup rifle, it has little competition – perhaps only from the IMI Tavor series – and exceeds the standards provided by Defence under Land 125. Thales Australia have managed to correct some of the weaknesses of the F88SA2 (poor cheek weld, excessive weight….
The famous MAG-58 General Purpose Machine Gun has its roots in John Browning’s 1918 Browning Automatic Rifle: the BAR. FN Herstal’s relationship with Browning is well-known and it’s no surprise that the excellent BAR operating system would evolve in their hands. The FN Model D BAR added features such as a quick-change barrel, but the core operating system was alive and well throughout the evolution. Put simply….
One day in November 2010, the battle to get Antonio Ezekiel Cárdenas Guillén, one of the most feared and wanted drug lords in Mexico, had lasted eight-hours. The Scorpions – the capo’s own army – presented a stiff resistance to hundreds of soldiers and federal policemen while a 660-strong Marine battalion fought its way to his whereabouts in Matamoros. This is a small city in Tamaulipas, just across the border from Texas. The government forces…
At the 2012 SHOT Show, ArmaLite introduced their new and long anticipated AR-10A family of rifles. This is an AR-10 that uses the standard magazine rather than the proprietary M14 based magazine that the ArmaLite AR-10B rifles have used since their introduction in 1995. To trace the history a little, the ArmaLite AR-10B series was introduced to the commercial market in 1995, which was one year after the infliction of the 1994 assault weapon ban that prohibited production of magazines that held more than 10 rounds for commercial purposes. Former U.S. Army Ordnance officer and President of ArmaLite Mark Westrom had a dilemma on his hands while….
Since 2005, the Afghan Uniformed Police (AUP) have been providing a paramilitary force capable of stabilizing reconstruction efforts and will continue to provide a long term security force for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. This essay takes a look at the small arms, equipment, and organization of a Police unit based out of the Loy Kolay Precinct, Nawa district in Helmand province. During the time frame of this article, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Infantry Regiment (1/9) was supporting the AUP and ANA positions in Nawa Ye-Baraksi district. Since then, 2/6 has taken over. (A note on abbreviations, AUP was formally designated Afghan National Police (ANP)….
Choosing the name of the most popular home video cassette system for your nation’s rifle might not have been intentional, but that’s the association that the Višenamjenska Hrvatska Strojnica (multipurpose Croatian automatic weapon) would not be able to shake off easily. Anyone who knows anything about weapons would also recognize the source of the stylistic inspiration – the French FA MAS F1 “Bugle,” an icon of the 1980s on par with the Phillips video cassette recorder system called the Video Home System….
There’s nothing else like it in any of the other branches of America’s Armed Forces. Its uniquely lethal products, the work of a small and tightly-knit group, must function flawlessly and consistently 24/7 for the Corps’ Scout Snipers and other hard-chargers in some of the world’s most harsh terrain and weather. Other weapons and custom loaded ammunition created there must also consistently deliver pinpoint accuracy for world class shooters of the USMC’s Competition In Arms Rifle and Pistol Teams….
Debuting in 1982, Glock has revolutionized the foundation on which military and law enforcement handguns sit. Glock pistols not only revolutionized the material in which military grade pistols are manufactured but the sheer market share they hold is nothing short of amazing. Entering the market as a polymer frame firearm with the fewest parts of any firearm of its kind with utter reliability and dependability, Glock….
The International Air and Defense Fair (FIDAE) that takes place in Chile every two years rebounded from the quake that shook the region in 2010 with the exhibition in 2012 proving to be 25% larger than the previous event. Two years ago, FIDAE took place against all odds and only a few days after the country was hit by one of the biggest earthquakes and tsunamis in history. The exhibition took place as a showpiece to demonstrate that Chile had fortitude and organizational skills to allow the show to go on, as relief assistance was taking place in parallel to….
Friends and foes of the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon in the U.S. Marine Corps’ infantry fire teams have been engaged in often fierce verbal firefights dating back years before this innovative light machine gun entered Leatherneck service; soon after the Army adopted FN’s MINIMI in 1984. While the reasons for this are many and varied, astute observers often cite two main points of contention: Advocates of belt fed weapons like the M249 admire their relative portability and high volume of fire…
This story begins in 1925. That year the Red Army requested the development of a large caliber machine gun with the intention of using it as an anti-aircraft and anti-armor weapon. Initial research suggested a caliber of 12.7mm (0.5 inch, or “five lines” in contemporary Russian measuring system, where “one line” was equivalent of 1/10 of an inch), with the earliest work being based on the British .50 Vickers cartridge. However, it was soon discovered that the British round was not effective enough, so an indigenous round…
Sweden was not shy in their attempt to modernize their army at the turn of the twentieth century by equipping it with modern machine guns. The m/95 Maxim, the m/99 Nordenfeldt (Konstruction Bergman-Nordenfeldt) and m/00 Hotchkiss all found a home at one time or another in the Swedish army from 1895 to 1914. From 1914 the m/14 Schwarzlose was adopted and widely used. The first 511 Schwarzlose machine guns were imported from Austria but in 1917 Sweden began making them at the Carl Gustafs Stads Gevärsfaktori (GF) in Eskilstuna….
For the past several years SADJ has been following progress of the US Marine Corps’ program to identify and field a suitable alternative to the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. While the 5.56mm belt fed SAW is touted as a relatively portable weapon that can pump out a high volume of fire, many of the Leatherneck MOS 0311 grunts who have been humping this twenty-plus pound package since 1985 have been asking for something lighter, simpler and more reliable….
To appreciate the complexity of situations where police or military forces charged with peacekeeping duties utilize force, one must conceptualize force not as a static concept but rather as a continuum of responses, ranging from verbal commands, as a minor exertion of force, to deadly force, the maximum amount of force possible to apply. A use-of-force continuum relies on the concept of multiple categories of increasing officer perceptions of suspect resistance linked to similar groupings of the officer’s response to those perceptions….
