Expomil 2009

The Viper Spirit, Viper tactical. (www.viperspirit.ro). Dan Stanescu is the sales manager; he spent several years working with various contractors and security groups in Iraq and developed some ideas that were important to comfort on long patrols. Essentially, the boots were very important to him, and on his return to Romania has become involved in testing, evaluating and designing the equipment that’s been going to a number of the contractors. His company is looking to contact into the United States for sales. The boots are injection-molded into a very high-grade cordura. Reports from the front say the people who’ve been using them are quite pleased when the temperatures get very high in Iraq and Afghanistan and even in the cold they adjust very well. The steel supports inside the anti-static soles are very good for running. There are hinges in there for that purpose. Viper also has Italian rip-stop fabric uniforms that are lightweight and very resilient, as well as plate carriers that are being made without a Kevlar section on them for simpler rifle control.

Cugir (www.umcugir.ro) was showing the DShKM machine gun on a newly made high-mount tripod with shoulder supports and a simplified anti-aircraft sight; the mount also doubles as a ground mount.

Cujir’s Model 2000 9x19mm pistol is a conventional Browning design with a 15-round magazine and with one in the chamber it has 16 available rounds. It has a tactical light or laser pointer gripping groove on the front. The entire pistol is steel except for the grip handle. It’s a double or single action pistol with an overall length of 206.5 mm with a barrel length 112 mm. Barrel rifling is six in a hexagonal profile. Weight of the weapon without magazine is 900 grams; the weight of empty magazine is 90 grams.

Arm Cujir, the small arms manufacturing group in Romania, has sales made through Romarm Group. They make the PSL rifle in 7.62x54R, and they’ve added another Kalashnikov variant of that rifle in 7.62x51mm NATO with a clear plastic magazine. The example shown has the LM1-1P-PSL night vision scope.

Arm Cujir offers a PKM with a shorter barrel and a side-folding stock. It’s 7.62x54R and uses standard PKM links. The internals are all correct and original, the barrel is simply shorter. It is a gas piston operation with a rotating bolt lock, and is fed with a 100-round belt or with the larger cans. The muzzle velocity is 800 meters per second. Rifling is four grooves right hand, one turn in 240 mm. Weight of the para-weapon is 8.25 kilograms; overall length with stock unfolded is 1,100 mm; with stock folded 810 mm. Barrel length of 510 mm, and the line of sight between the sights is 570 mm.

Basic Kalashnikov variants are in 5.56x45mm. Arm Cujir calls it a submachine gun and utilizes a plastic magazine. Its rate of fire is recorded at 600 rounds per minute. Rifling is six grooves, right hand, one turn in 178 mm. The weapon is 805 mm long with stock extended, 605 mm with stock folded and has a barrel length of 305 mm. Weight of the weapon without magazine 3.1 kilogram; box magazine is .3 kilogram. The 5.45x39mm submachine gun behind it with the rail-mounted top and an LN1-1P night vision scope mounted on it is a Kalashnikov action and variation of an AK-74 with a plastic magazine. It has three-round burst capacity, a cyclic rate at 600 rpm, muzzle velocity of 790 meters per second, rifling is four grooves, right hand, one turn in 195 mm. The weapon is 805 mm with the stock unfolded and 605 mm with the stock folded. The barrel length is 305 mm and the weight of the weapon without magazine is 3.1 kilograms. Weight of a box magazine is .3 kilograms. Behind that, a standard AK-47 done with the signature side-folding stock. The offering for 5.56mm assault rifle includes optics and a 40x46mm low velocity grenade launcher using standard NATO-style grenades. It’s set up for SS109 and is gas-operated selective-fire, with a three-round burst capability. 30-round magazines are standard. Cyclic rate of fire is 600 rounds a minute. Muzzle velocity is 880 meters per second. The barrel is 415 mm long with six grooves right hand, one turn, and 178 mm. The overall length is 945 mm, and it comes down to 745 mm. The weight of the weapon without the magazine is 3.45 kilograms; box magazines are .3.

This sectioned cutaway of the Bunkerfaust 110mm HEAT-MPRA is from a reloadable Diehl shoulder-fired launcher. To the left is the shaped charge cone, and towards center right is the secondary explosive charge with fragmentation. Once the initial charge penetrates the armor, the secondary charge travels through the hole and into the area behind, exploding and fragmenting in a 360 degree arc.

The Matadors from Rafael Systems are a variance of the PZF-90 system. The AS, which is the anti-structure munition, they utilize the same basic tube on all three variations. The weight of anti-structure, the Matador AS is 10 kilograms (23 pounds). Length is one meter (3.3 feet). Launching caliber is 90mm (3.54 inches). Effective range is 400 meters. The minimum range is ten meters. The launcher type is a disposable Davis gun. The Matador WB, which is the wall-bridging munition, is 13 kilograms (28.7 pounds), one meter in length. It’s launch caliber 90mm. Its effective range is 120 meters (394 feet). The minimum range is 20 meters (65.5 feet). It uses a flex sight. The Matador MP is a multi-purpose breaching munition that has 11.3 kilograms (24.9 pounds), one meter (3.3 feet) length, 90mm. Effective range is 500 meters (1,640 feet) and a minimum range of 14 meters (46 feet). The MP model is designed to defeat a variety of ground targets. It incorporates an advanced laser range finder with a night vision capability on the LRF module, and it can be operated in one of two modes: penetrating mode against fortified targets and a HESH mode against light-armored vehicles or urban structures.

Rafael Systems has the Simon door-breaching round. It’s a GREM, to stand off from a distance, fire the rifle grenade from any standard 22mm NATO spec barrel. Self-contained unit, and has a standoff rod. The fuze is, they have two models, the 150 and the 120, which is called the Grem, and the 150, it’s 150 grams of, .34 pounds of PXN-109. The Simon 120 is 120 grams. Overall weight is 680 grams (1.5 pounds) for the Simon 150, and 620 grams (1.37 pounds) for the Simon 120 or the Grem. Standoff rods are the same, overall length 765 mm (30 inches); diameter is 100 mm (four inches). Minimum range is 15 meters (49 feet) on the Simon 150. And on the Simon 120 it’s 12.5 meters (41 feet). They have a storage life of ten years; they use an insensitive munition, dedicated impact fuze, and you fire it using standard ammunition. So it’s a bullet trap system.

Raphael Advanced Defense Systems Limited (www.rafael.co.ilalso) presents the Urbanstar. The Urbanstar is used in situations where you can get up to the object that you want to penetrate. Propellant charge accelerates the warhead into a hole that’s created by a precursor charge and then ignites the pyrotechnic delay at the same time. After that delay the warhead detonates behind the wall, defeating the enemy by its blast-effective fragments. Essentially, you have a shape charge that punches the obstacle, and the charge goes through and explodes on the other side. Length is 600 mm; diameter 120 mm; overall weight six kilograms (13.22 pounds). The follow-through bomb that goes inside is 2.5 kilograms, which is 700 grams of explosive (1.54 pounds). The precursor explosive is 400 grams with .88 pounds. It can penetrate 200 mm of B300 reinforced concrete wall and has a ten-year storage capability. The Spike family of multi-purpose precision weapon systems are a surgically precise missile that can be used as the Spike MR, which is the lightweight third-generation man-portable weapon missile system. It’s designed for urban warfare or traditional. Its fire and forget mode for autonomous medium-range target engagement up to 2.5 kilometers. The Spike LR is also mounted on special forces, infantry and light combat vehicles and can be fired from them. The Spike ER is mounted on shipboard or helicopters and naval vessels. Spike MR, the infantry version that’s man-portable, has a range of 2.5 kilometers. It weighs, with the missile in canister, 13.5 kilograms; the launcher itself is 13 kilograms. Mode of operation: fire and forget, and the warheads are fragmentation or anti-tank. The Spike LR has a range of four kilometers. The missile and canister, the weights are the same, and the fire and forget mode, but fire, observe and update, or fire and steer mode are available from the vehicle-mounted LR. Fragmentation or anti-tank.

The Jandarmeria Romana exhibited the various weapons used by this specially trained group. They had SIG Sauer SSG-3000 in 7.62x51mm with bipod. A second tactical rifle that they were working with was the Brügger & Thomet AG special 7.62x51mm APR 308, with suppressor and detachable magazines. Special Operations in 5.56x45mm was the new SIG 553 submachine gun with attached rails on the front. The Italian-made Spas 15 shotgun, using six-round detachable magazines with a side-folding stock, was the choice for a shotgun. The H&K MP5 with Brügger & Thomet 9mm suppressor. Handguns featured in the display were the HKUSP in 9x19mm with threaded extended barrel and Brügger & Thomet 9mm suppressor. The Glock 17 standard issue pistol, standard magazines, and the SIG P226 in standard configuration, also called the US-M11 by the Navy SEALs. Jandarmeria Romana are cross-trained into underwater operations, and special operations of any type.

The Military Equipment and Technologies Research Agency, in Romanian, Agentia De Cercetare Bentru Tehnica Si Tehnologii Militare. Their specialties include testing and laboratory work, ballistics research, and they have a very interesting set of chemical warfare testing indicators. The yellow packages are the blister agents indicating tube, Ti-HD. The red one is the nerve agent indicator tube, Ti-G. Phosgene and cyanic acid indicator tube sets are the green ones, Ti-ACG. The BZ indicator tube model TI-46.