LAAD 2011

Brazilian Air Force soldier Daniel Roberto with DSA’s new RPD Carbine. DSA’s booth at LAAD is always one of the busiest. This is partially because DSA’s main product line is a modernized and fully evolved series of FAL variant rifles; which are the basic military arm in Brazil and much of the region. Since the military personnel and veterans are all very familiar with the FAL system, they can readily appreciate the improvements to the system on the DSA products. In the case of the RPD upgrade shown, DSA has added a collapsible stock, a rail forend, modernized ergonomic pistol grip and forward grip, taking this 1950s era 7.62x39mm belt fed into a future SAW role for today’s operators. (www.dsarms.com)

ELCAN Optical Technologies, now a division of Raytheon, was debuting their SpecterHR ECOS-H (Enhanced Combat Optical Sight - Heavy). This is a sealed, rugged, large window biocular weapon sight that is made for fast performance. The two dot illuminated red reticles are set for 1,000 and 1,500 meters respectively, and the wide field of view allows for an M2HB to make fast target acquisition at close or long range. The top rail allows for mounting an optional telescopic sight for more precise target identification. (www.elcansightingsystems.com)

Hanwha Corp. from South Korea had an impressive display but they were only featuring several of the small arms offerings: the K4 40x53mm grenade machine gun (MK19 style) and in the backdrop, the K11 20mm/5.56mm combat weapon that has been covered extensively in SADJ in Volume 3, Number 1. Unverified reports are that approximately 800 of these K11s have been deployed with South Korean forces in Afghanistan, and SADJ has received in-country pictures on operations. (www.hanwhacorp.co.kr)

Brazilian Army Captain Thales Lima de Afonseca is a mechanical engineer working with IMBEL on small arms. The IMBEL rifle the Captain is holding is the 5.56x45mm IA2 (IMBEL fusil de Assalto 2). Overall length: 850 mm; barrel length: 350 mm; weight 3.48 kg; with a six groove left hand barrel and twist of 1:0.254m (1:10 inches). The 7.62x51mm variants are longer. (www.imbel.gov.br)

Expal from Spain has a lot of larger caliber programs, but the small arms ammunition was of great interest. Their new Nammo based IR Trace in 5.56x45 and 7.62x51 allows for a full use of trace fire with NV, while the enemy can’t see the trace. They are working with Nammo on the non-toxic program for NATO as well. Expal’s 60mm mortar program offers two pieces: the M99 60mm Mortar with Symetric bipod, and the 60mm Commando Mortar. (expal.es)

NIVISYS is well known to the readers of SADJ as we have covered a number of their products. They are a world leader in the night vision and thermal market. Left to right: NSV-80 clip-on NV weapon sight; MUM-14 NV monocular; PVS-7 with TACS-M thermal clip-on device; UTAM-32 thermal monocular; TAG-320 thermal binocular. In front: TAWS-32 thermal weapon sight 320x240dpi and 25 Microns - this is the export version of the TAWS-64 thermal weapon sight that has U.S. Mil-Spec 640x480dpi and 17 Microns. (www.nivisys.com)

Remington Defense’s booth was three deep with attendees at all times. They had their full tactical line out, with the XM2010 Sniper Weapon System (bottom) as a feature. This system is an upgrade of the M24 bolt action sniper rifle, with the Remington Arms Chassis System (RADCW), full rail systems and .300 Win Magnum box magazine feed. (www.remingtondefense.com)

Bianca Nicolau from VT Systems in Sao Paolo, which is part of the ST Engineering Group from Singapore, is holding the SAR-21 Light Carbine w/EOTech optic. The SAR-21 Light Carbine is a bullpup styled 5.56x45mm select fire rifle that weighs 3 kg. In the background is ST’s CIS40AGL in 40x53mm. (www.stengg.com)

Brazilian company Taurus, well-known in the rest of the world for their fine handguns, had three offerings in larger formats: the MT-40-G2C which is a polymer submachine gun in .40 S&W caliber; The CT40-G2L – an extended version in .40 S&W caliber with a 40x46mm grenade launcher mounted under-barrel; and the ART 556 assault rifle - a well thought out polymer, modern assault rifle in 5.56x45mm. (www.taurus.com.br)