N.R. Jenzen-Jones & Charlie Randall Images shared via Ukrainian social media accounts on 4 March 2022 show the remnants of a cluster munition, reportedly documented in Pokrovsk—located in Donbas Oblast, eastern Ukraine—following a Russian strike. As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to face stiff resistance, increased use of cluster munitions is being documented by
N.R. Jenzen-Jones & Patrick Senft Pictures shared to social media show a Russian 3Б30 (3B30) submunition in Ukraine, apparently photographed during the recent Russian invasion (see Figure 1). 3B30 submunitions were reportedly used to strike the village of Chornomorske, in the Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine (not to be confused with the village of Chornomorske
Boris Karpa Amongst the many types of equipment in service with pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine – whether received from Russia or captured from Ukrainian stocks – communications equipment and optics have been in short supply. These items, notable mostly in their shortage, have been important to the war effort, and lamented for their absence.
Ernő Lovass & N.R. Jenzen-Jones The 2B9M Vasilek (‘Cornflower’) is a muzzle or breech-loading, long recoil-operated automatic smoothbore medium mortar. It is a modernised, air-cooled version of the 2B9 water-cooled mortar, itself derived from the earlier F-82 automatic mortar. Development of the 2B9 began in the late 1960s, with the Soviet army adopting the weapon in 1970. The modernised 2B29M
Miles Vining Elements of the Nigerian 223rd Infantry Battalion, 1st Nigerian Army Division based out of Kaduna recently responded to an attack by criminal elements in the Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara Sate (northwestern Nigeria). The incident was characterised as an attack targeting members of the Nigerian Federal Road Safety Corps, one of whom was killed before the
For those seeking more detail on the complex interrelationship of the AN-94 self-loading rifle’s dual operating systems and unusual trigger mechanism, ARES Technical Specialist Jonathan Ferguson has developed a brief interpretation to clarify the key operating mechanics. Further and complementary detail may be found in the previous ARES post and in the original patent description and
This post accompanies the third in a series of collaborative videos produced by ARES Researcher Ian McCollum, who also runs the Forgotten Weapons blog and YouTube channel. Using access to unique collections facilitated by ARES, this series of videos will examine a range of interesting weapons over the coming months. Each video will be accompanied
ImproGuns Images shared via social media purport to show new “silent weapons for special forces of the [Donetsk People’s] Republic”. Information accompanying the images claims they are manufactured locally by DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) separatist forces in Donbass. One of the weapons, dubbed ‘Deaf-mute Aunt Tanya from Donbas’, appears to be a modified Russian TT-33 type self-loading pistol which has
Ilya A. On 5 August 2016, anti-government forces from the Free Syrian Army and the Islamist coalition Jaish al-Fateh stormed and captured a Syrian Arab Army (SAA) artillery school facility during operations aimed at breaking the Syrian regime siege of Eastern Aleppo. The following day, rebel group Ahrar al-Sham posted photos of materiel in the
The ARES Team A series of images and a later video shared on a popular VKontake page in April and June 2016 depict a number of Russian armed forces personnel in Syria. These troops are pictured with a range of weapons, including a number of dedicated sniper rifles and anti-materiel rifles. The earlier images show
