Month: December 2015

Small Arms Survey releases ‘Research Note 55: Recoilless Weapons’

The Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research institute, has released a new publication authored by ARES Director N.R. Jenzen-Jones, with contributions from ARES staff members Graeme Rice and Michael Smallwood. Research Note 55: Recoilless Weapons examines at the technical features, development history, and global employment of these common light weapon systems. Recoilless weapons utilise the countermass of expelled propellant gasses

Continue Reading

Soviet 3O8 240 mm rocket-assisted cargo projectiles in Syria

Yuri Lyamin and N.R. Jenzen-Jones Update 31 Jan 16: Further examples of O-10 submunitions have been documented in Douma, Syria on 27 January 2016 (see images below). These submunitions bear markings indicating that they were also manufactured in 1989. Additionally, in mid-January further images were posted to social media showing remnants from 3O8 cargo projectiles. Whilst several examples

Continue Reading

Belgian FN Herstal CAL rifle in Gaza

N.R. Jenzen-Jones At far right, the image above appears to show a Belgian FN Herstal CAL (Carabine Automatique Légère; Light Automatic Carbine) rifle in the hands of fighters from the National Resistance Brigades, the paramilitary arm of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). The DFLP are an extreme-left member group of the Palestine

Continue Reading

Islamic State unmanned aerial vehicle shot down in Iraq

Larry Friese On 3 October 2015 it was reported that Iraqi Federal Police had shot down a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flown by Islamic State forces, east of Ramadi. They indicated the UAV was being used to monitor and photograph military units deployed in Anbar Province. Photographs of the UAV indicate it was an X-UAV Talon manufactured

Continue Reading

Iranian AM50 anti-materiel rifle documented in Yemen

Michael Smallwood ARES has recently documented Houthi fighters with two models of anti-materiel rifle (AMR) manufactured in Canada and the United States of America, but more recent images posted to social media appear to show a Houthi fighter armed with an Iranian AM50 (Sayyad-2) AMR. Produced by the Iranian state-controlled Defence Industries Organization’s (DIO) Individual

Continue Reading