Michael Smallwood An update to our November blog post on the Caracal Model F self-loading pistol documented in Tripoli’s Old City, Libya, comes courtesy of the UN Panel of Experts on Libya’s latest report to the UN Security Council. This report analyses the effectiveness of the arms embargo on Libya as well as other related
Michael Smallwood Armament Research Services has previously covered the sale of arms and munitions in Libya via social media sites. This latest example of note shows the gripstock for a 9K32M Strela-2M man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) (NATO reporting name: SA-7b ‘Grail’) being offered for sale in a private Facebook group which acts as a
Hassan Morajea with Michael Smallwood Pictures supplied to ARES show a Caracal F semi-automatic pistol, produced by Caracal, a United Arab Emirates-based firearms manufacturer. This particular Model F is the personal protection weapon of an owner of a gold jewellery store in Tripoli’s Old City, in Libya. The owner, ‘U‘, says he purchased the pistol a few months
By Hassan Morajea. Header image shows AKM type rifle and PKMT undergoing refurbishment. In a militia-controlled garage in Misrata, Libya, workers service and refurbish weapons for fighters from different Misrata brigades. Free services provided range from fixing and servicing small arms and light weapons (SALW) to mounting multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), anti-aircraft guns, and various
The following post originally appeared here, authored by the Oryx Blog team. It has been expanded and modified with their permission for The Hoplite by Michael Smallwood and Yuri Lyamin. In a series of photos coming out of Tripoli, Libya, militants are shown using sophisticated guided air-to-surface missiles as unguided surface-to-surface weapons. The missile shown,
Armament Research Services is proud to release the first in a series of long-form ARES Research Reports. Authored by Yuri Lyamin and N.R. Jenzen-Jones, “Improvised Employment of S-5 Air-to-Surface Rockets in Land Warfare” aims to provide a brief history and technical appraisal of a battlefield phenomenon which has received little attention to date. Below are
Jonathan Ferguson The demand for firearms in Libya has brought to light three handguns so far undocumented, at least in the English-speaking world. At least one of these (pictured below) is available in lethal-purpose form, though based upon a blank firing handgun and possibly also produced in that form. It is a sub-compact design, and
