Yuri Lyamin and Michael Smallwood The remnants shown above, recovered from eastern Ukraine in late July, are incendiary components likely to be from the Russian 9M22S rocket. Fired by the BM-21 ‘Grad’ (Град; Hail) multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) and similar systems, the 122 mm 9M22S was developed by the Splav State Research and Production
N.R. Jenzen-Jones Ten days ago, Thales Australia secured a contract from the Australian Department of Defence to enter low-rate initial production (LRIP) for the company’s F90 assault rifle. Chambered for 5.56 x 45 mm, the F90 is likely to replace Australia’s in-service F88 series (including the current F88SA2) assault rifles under the Land 125 Phase
By Michael Smallwood A YouTube video released last week by a Syrian Islamist rebel group in Daraa city shows wooden crates containing components of the Russian-made Kornet (Корнет; ‘Cornet’) man-portable anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW). This system, with the NATO reporting name AT-14 Spriggan, is one of the newer and more capable Russian-made ATGWs. Purportedly
By Michael Smallwood. Header image displays an improvised launcher in a two-tube configuration mounted on the rear of a pickup truck. Photos emerging from Iraq purport to show members of the Islamist militant group Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) in possession of 333 mm Falaq-2 artillery rockets and improvised launchers. In the photo below, a substantially
Ian McCollum The rifle above is a curious example of weapons coming full-circle and being reinvented. This is the “44 Bore” rifle, a colloquial name given to AK type rifles rechambered for the German 7.92 x 33 mm Kurz (sometimes referred to as 8 x 33 mm) cartridge in Pakistan. How this cartridge came to be
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,
ARES is proud to release its first Arms & Munitions Brief. Authored by Timothy Yan, “The Chinese QLZ87 Automatic Grenade Launcher” examines the development history and technical capability of this automatic grenade launcher (AGL) and its ammunition, as well as a brief look at other Chinese-developed AGLs. Below are some extracts from the publication, which
ARES Director N.R. Jenzen-Jones has co-authored an Issue Brief for the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research institute, published in late July. With an aim to inform measures for reducing illicit proliferation, the paper discusses small arms ammunition found in the holdings of non-state armed groups within Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia. An excerpt from the
Michael Smallwood The above video, posted on the 24th of June, shows combatants near Syria’s western city of Hama firing a 9K32M (NATO reporting name: SA-7b) man-portable air defence system (MANPADS) with a non-standard battery attached. Other instances of improvised batteries being used with MANPADS have previously been documented in Syria, with one video released
Boris Karpa (MicroBalrog) The newest Russian man-portable air defence system (MANPADS), the 9K333 Verba (“Pussy Willow”) has been finally issued to the Russian armed forces, having made its appearance with the Ivanovo VDV division after passing Army testing in the summer of 2011 and being confirmed for production in late 2011. The Verba is an
