N.R. Jenzen-Jones Several modern, anti-armour cargo (carrier) munitions employ submunitions which are capable of independently identifying a target and each engaging an individual vehicle. These ‘sensor-fuzed submunitions’, whilst still uncommon as a percentage of states’ arsenals, have been employed in a number of current and recent conflicts and are now held by a number of
Kenton Fulmer Journalists embedded with the Peshmerga continue to gain firsthand experience with Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) employed by the Islamic State (IS). ARES received information from an embedded journalist detailing two designs of IED switch that are being encountered frequently by Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces in their continuing effort to counter IS in
Galen Wright During an offensive southwest of Syria’s Aleppo on 17 June 2016, anti-government fighters from Ajnad al-Sham recovered an unknown number of Iranian M18A2 directional anti-personnel landmines. Images of these were posted to the group’s Twitter account the next day. These are only the latest Iranian arms to be captured on this front, underscoring the
Yuri Lyamin In 2006, some sources indicated that China North Industries Corporation (Norinco) had developed a new 155 mm HE projectile design which incorporated two auxiliary propulsion techniques – base bleed (BB) and rocket assistance (RA). Shortly after these early reports emerged, it became apparent that Norinco had in fact developed a new family of
The use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWPA) – particularly those weapons with potential wide-area effects – remains of significant concern to military forces, civil society, and other stakeholders. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) commissioned Armament Research Services (ARES) to produce a report examining the technical considerations relevant to the use of explosive weapons in
N.R. Jenzen-Jones On 17 March 2016, the Islamic State displayed a range of equipment it claimed to have recovered from “a Russian military advisor” killed during fighting near Palmyra. The nature of the equipment recovered indicates that the fighter was likely a Russian special operations forces (SOF) EOD operator. Amongst the equipment recovered was an MIB type
Yuri Lyamin with N.R. Jenzen-Jones Images posted to Facebook and Twitter in mid-to-late February 2016 show the presence of PTAB-1M anti-tank submunitions and the RBK-500 PTAB-1M air-delivered cargo munition (cluster bomb) in the al-Ghanto area of the Homs governorate of Syria. The remnants of the bomb’s tail and casing indicate it is an RBK-500 (Razovaya Bombovaya
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
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
Yuri Lyamin and N.R. Jenzen-Jones Update 31 Jan 16: Further examples of O-10 submunitions have been documented in Douma, Syria on 27 January 2016 (see images below). These submunitions bear markings indicating that they were also manufactured in 1989. Additionally, in mid-January further images were posted to social media showing remnants from 3O8 cargo projectiles. Whilst several examples
