Category: Small Arms & Light Weapons (SALW)

Iran shows Toophan-3 anti-tank guided weapon at Baghdad arms expo

Galen Wright Iraq kicked off the 5th Defense, Security, & Aviation Fair in Baghdad this Sunday, with participating representatives from 108 countries, perhaps the most notable of which was Iran. According to a video issued by Iran’s state broadcasting company (IRIB), Tehran is now actively marketing a new top-attack version of its Toophan (‘typhoon’) anti-tank

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Research Report No. 5: A Tale of Two Rifles

ARES is proud to announce the release of the fifth publication in our Research Report series, entitled “A Tale of Two Rifles: The proliferation of F2000 and AK-103 self-loading rifles exported to Libya in 2004 – 2009“. This research report examines the proliferation of Belgian FN Herstal F2000 and Russian IZHMASH (now Kalashnikov Concern) AK-103-2 self-loading rifles within

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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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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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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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Bulgarian AR-M9 & AR-M9F rifles supplied by UAE to allied forces

N.R. Jenzen-Jones Over the past five years, Bulgarian Arsenal 5.56 x 45 mm AR-M9 and AR-M9F self-loading rifles have been documented in the hands of Libyan, Yemeni, and Sudanese armed forces. In each of these cases, sources indicate that the weapons in question may have been provided by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to

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West African arms trafficker arrested in Ghana

Oscar Nkala Police in the Ghanaian city of Kumasi last month arrested a 72-year-old suspected arms dealer from Burkina Faso and five Ghanaian accomplices in an operation that recovered a sizeable cache of small arms and ammunition. The seizure included 11 AK type and 10 G3 type self-loading rifles; 45 self-loading handguns of undefined make

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Small Arms Survey releases ‘Research Note 55: Recoilless Weapons’

The Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research institute, has released a new publication authored by ARES Director N.R. Jenzen-Jones, with contributions from ARES staff members Graeme Rice and Michael Smallwood. Research Note 55: Recoilless Weapons examines at the technical features, development history, and global employment of these common light weapon systems. Recoilless weapons utilise the countermass of expelled propellant gasses

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