Month: February 2016

Improvised ‘Carlo’ submachine guns used in Jerusalem attack

Improguns with N.R. Jenzen-Jones An attack on Israel Border Police (מִשְׁמַר הַגְּבוּל; Mishmar HaGvul) officers at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate on 3 February 2016 left one policewoman dead from stab wounds and another injured from gunfire. At least two of the three weapons recovered appear to be homemade submachine guns of a type commonly seized by

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Serbian M69A mortar documented in Syria

Ali Richter A video uploaded to YouTube on 26 February 2016 appears to show fighters from the Syrian armed opposition group known as Division 13 operating a Serbian M69A 82 mm mortar near Ayn Daqnah, north of Aleppo. The video title claims the fighters were targeting Kurdish PKK positions. The M69A  mortar, and the 81 mm M69B

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Recent-production Bulgarian 40 mm ammunition in Syria

N.R. Jenzen-Jones On 21 February 2016, the Abkhazian Network News Agency (ANNA News) and Frontinfo posted some footage seemingly filmed near Nabi Younes in Latakia Governorate, Syria. Amongst the footage is a fired cartridge case from a 40 × 46SR mm high explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) round produced in Bulgaria. The Arsenal 40×46 RLV-HEF round is of the 40 ×

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Small Arms Survey releases Working Paper 23 ‘Chambering the Next Round’

Emergent ammunition technologies are likely to prove key in future firearms designs. Emergent cartridge case technologies, the rise of the ‘general-purpose’ calibre, and other nascent technologies will affect the way in which firearms are designed, produced, managed in service, tactically employed, maintained, and sustained. Chambering the Next Round: Emergent Small-calibre Cartridge Technologies, a new Working Paper

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Special Report No. 2: Emerging Unmanned Threats

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

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Serbian M02 Coyote HMG and 120 mm mortar projectiles in Syria

Yuri Lyamin with N.R. Jenzen-Jones In recent days, opposition groups within Syria have been documented in possession of Serbian-made arms and munitions. M62P8 120 mm high explosive (HE) mortar projectiles and an M02 Coyote 12.7 x 108 mm heavy machine gun have been identified. Whilst a number of weapons manufactured in the former Yugoslavia have

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Tor series surface-to-air missile systems in Ukraine

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

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Semi-automatic firearm produced using 3D printer

Improguns Firearms produced using additive manufacturing techniques have been the subject of significant media attention and research. Most firearms printed from polymers have suffered from significant limitations to operational utility, primarily being single-shot weapons. The Shuty MP-1 is different. The latest in a series of videos detailing the development of the MP-1 9 x 19 mm

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