Yuri Lyamin The ongoing conflict in Syria and Iraq has given rise to a wide range of different modifications of military equipment, especially the mounting of automatic guns, including heavy machine guns and cannon, on a variety of different chassis. One of the most popular systems this role is the Soviet-era 57 mm anti-aircraft gun
Martin Kiser An Iranian Irbi News broadcast from 17 August 2016 (27 Mordad 1395) reported on the production of an Iraqi unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) named ‘Al Robot’. The broadcast shows images of the four-wheeled vehicle driving and firing from a static position. The Al Robot UGV was allegedly developed and built by two brothers affiliated
The ARES Team As of May 2016 there are at least five Casspir NG2000 series armoured vehicles in service with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). The contingent is based in the Kidal region, also known as UN Sector North. As the French counter insurgency (COIN) operation in the region, Operation
ARES is proud to announce the release of the second in our Special Report series, entitled Emerging Unmanned Threats: The use of commercially-available UAVs by armed non-state actors, presented in conjunction with PAX. Armed non-state actors are increasingly employing ‘commercial off-the-shelf’ (COTS) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to support combat operations. A wide range of these
Ivan Kochin with Ali Richter As early as the spring of 2014 there were reports of Soviet 9K330 Tor (NATO reporting name: SA-15 ‘Gauntlet’) operating within Ukraine. The 9K330 is a short range, self-propelled surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, first introduced into Soviet service in the late 1970s. Several modernised variants have subsequently been introduced into
Kenton Fulmer The suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (SVBIED) is broadly considered to have served as the makeshift ‘precision guided munition’ (PGM) of Islamist extremists for the last decade, with their frequent and effective use in the tactical operations of the Islamic State (IS) serving to highlight the phenomenon in the media. Due to the decisive
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
Larry Friese Regional media outlets are reporting a Saudi unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was shot down in Ta’izz Governorate in southwestern Yemen on or about October 25, 2015. Video of the wreckage shown on YouTube indicates that the UAV in question is a Schiebel Camcopter S-100. The UAV appears to be configured with an Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) sensor on the
Boris Karpa The Ukrainian conflict has resulted in significant numbers of improvised armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) being employed by both Ukrainian security forces and pro-Russian separatist forces. Generally, improvised combat vehicles are manufactured from poor quality components, built by amateurs with no engineering training, under terrible conditions and equipped with ill-fitted weapons and armour. This particular vehicle appears different,
Alex Harper Images of Iranian weaponry in Iraq have become more frequent in recent months, as clashes between the Islamic State (IS) and its opposition forces have intensified. These weapons are primarily being employed by Shi’a militias such as Kata’ib Hezbollah and the Badr Army, but have also been spotted in the hands of Kurdish Peshmerga
