Trevor Ball & N.R. Jenzen-Jones Editor’s Note: This blog post is linked to entries in the Open-source Munitions Portal (OSMP), a joint project between ARES and Airwars, available at https://osmp.ngo/. OSMP Entry Nos. 513, 514, 548, 549, 579 The use of smoke munitions in modern conflict continues to be misunderstood by non-specialist observers. In extreme circumstances, this
N.R. Jenzen-Jones & Trevor Ball Editor’s Note: This blog post is linked to entries in the Open-source Munitions Portal (OSMP), a joint project between ARES and Airwars, available at https://osmp.ngo/. The use of the Small Diameter Bomb (known in U.S. service and elsewhere as the GBU-39) is increasingly being reported upon in the context of
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
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
N.R. Jenzen-Jones At far right, the image above appears to show a Belgian FN Herstal CAL (Carabine Automatique Légère; Light Automatic Carbine) rifle in the hands of fighters from the National Resistance Brigades, the paramilitary arm of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). The DFLP are an extreme-left member group of the Palestine
Michael Smallwood ARES has recently documented Houthi fighters with two models of anti-materiel rifle (AMR) manufactured in Canada and the United States of America, but more recent images posted to social media appear to show a Houthi fighter armed with an Iranian AM50 (Sayyad-2) AMR. Produced by the Iranian state-controlled Defence Industries Organization’s (DIO) Individual
Yuri Lyamin with Michael Smallwood Recent photos to emerge from Iraq show government troops with new Iranian AM50 (sometimes written ‘AM-50’) anti-materiel rifles (AMR) and Russian ORSIS T-5000 sniper rifles. Whilst initially misidentified as the Austrian Steyr HS .50, the photos suggest that these rifles are in fact an Iranian produced copy of the HS .50, known
