Tag: small arms

Analysing the Online Arms Trade in Opposition-controlled Syria: May 2021 update

Jack Shanley & Mick F. Introduction The conflict in Syria fuels a diverse trade in arms and munitions. Many transactions are performed online, providing an opportunity for remote analysis. This article is the fourth in a series of monthly updates to ARES Research Note 11: Analysing the Online Arms Trade in Opposition-controlled Syria. Readers should

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Royal Thai Army acquires domestically produced MOD963 self-loading rifles

George Colclough Overview In October 2020, the Royal Thai Army (RTA; กองทัพบกไทย; kong thap bok thai) acquired two variants of a domestically produced 5.56 × 45 mm self-loading rifle derived from the AR-15, known as the MOD963. This acquisition represents a significant deviation from the norm for the RTA, which, despite having a long history of

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Analysing the Online Arms Trade in Opposition-controlled Syria: February 2021 update

Jack Shanley & Mick F. Introduction      The conflict in Syria fuels a diverse trade in arms and munitions. Many transactions are performed online, providing an opportunity for remote analysis. This article is the first in a series of monthly updates to ARES Research Note 11: Analysing the Online Arms Trade in Opposition-controlled Syria. Readers

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Firearms Seized from Venezuelan Smugglers in Florida

Matthew Moss On 15 August 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers took two Venezuelan nationals into custody at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida. The two men were about to depart aboard a private jet loaded with a cache of firearms and ammunition. As a recent ARES report into the illicit online

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The Hungarian Frommer Stop self-loading pistol

Kristóf Nagy Rudolf Frommer and his frequently unique firearms designs have been more or less forgotten today, but the impact of his work is still felt in our modern world. Born on 4 August 1868 in Budapest, Frommer was soon to be recognised as an energetic rising star in the Hungarian firearms industry. He did

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The Yat-Thai rifles of Shan State, Myanmar

Miles Vining With a shortage of conventionally produced small arms in Shan State, Eastern Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), craft-produced and locally assembled weapons have proven important to the Shan State Army (SSA). A locally assembled AK-type self-loading rifle, known as the Yat-Thai in the Shan language, is amongst the most common of these. Built from

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The Hungarian Kucher K-1 sub-machine gun

Kristóf Nagy The Kucher K-1 sub-machine gun was born in the dark times that followed the Second World War in Hungary. Stalinist ruler Matyas Rákosi went to great lengths to please his Soviet masters and accepted little initiative from within his own country—especially when it came to weapons that rivalled the glorious Soviet designs that

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Weapons used by Sinaloa Cartel sicarios in Culiacán, Mexico

The ARES Team Editor’s Note: Readers should be aware that an unusually large number of false posts have been associated with the incident in Culiacán. These include images and video from movies, TV shows, and various other incidents in Mexico and elsewhere around the world, presented as being from this incident. Numerous sources have also presented images

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South African Police seize Chinese CS/LS5 sub-machine gun

Jonathan Ferguson Amongst a handful of small arms seized on 6 September by police in Johannesburg, South Africa was an unusual Chinese sub-machine gun or pistol-calibre carbine. Superficially similar to the German Heckler & Koch MP5 and UMP—two better-known 9 × 19 mm sub-machine guns—this original design is available in both military/law enforcement and sporting

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Venezuelan Caribe sub-machine gun

Pedro Pérez The ‘Caribe’ sub-machine gun is a prototype design under development by the Compañia Anonima Venezolana de Industrias Militares (CAVIM) in Venezuela. Very little is known about the design, with government sources claiming it has been in development since 2006. Initially known as the F-Caribe, the current working design appears to be known as

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