The Israeli company Meprolight released their new red dot/uncooled thermal imaging sight, the TIGON, at Paris’s MILIPOL 2021 exhibition (October 19-22, 2021). The new optic includes a red dot sighting system working in conjunction with the x2 thermal sighting system allowing the user to effectively engage targets out to 150 meters (although 200 meters has been discussed as the true effective range) day or nights.
Military/LE
Georgia Partnering with Israel to Produce Small Arms
The Georgian Minister of Defence, Juansher Burchuladze, has announced that production of new M4 self-loading carbines is planned through a Georgian-Israeli enterprise. The new domestically produced 5.56×45mm M4 carbines will be produced by the end of 2021.
ANSF Modifications of Weapons Captured by the Taliban During Their 2021 Offensive
I recently wrote a blog post for ARES (Armament Research Services), Silah Report is a subsidiary of ARES, about weapons captured by the Taliban during their 2021 offensive which toppled the Afghan Government. You can check out the article here.
This article will go over some of the modifications made to the weapons captured from ANSF (Afghan Security Forces) by the Taliban during their 2021 offensive. These modifications appear to have been made by the ANSF before they were captured.
Beirut Clashes – Weapons on the Street
This morning in Beirut, Lebanon was far from normal as the streets turned into a warzone and clashes erupted taking the lives of many people, injuring even more and forcing hundreds of families to flee their homes. We examine the causes and look at some of the small arms seen on Beirut’s streets.
Intriguing Rifle On The Black-Market In The Pak-Afghan Region
Since the Emiraat-E-Islami Afghanistan (Dari: امارت اسلامی افغانستان – English: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan or IEA for short), also known as the Taliban, retook control of Afghanistan from the US-backed government in Kabul, a massive number of arms, munition and vehicles were captured and/or surrendered to them by government and allied militant forces. All this occurred before and leading up to the capture of Kabul on 15th August 2021 by the IEA.
Iranian 5.56mm Rifles: From S5.56 to Masaaf
The story of 5.56×45mm self-loading rifles in Iran goes back prior to the Revolutionary-era. During the modernization efforts conducted by Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi to improve Iranian Armed Forces Capabilities, numerous 5.56×45mm rifles were tested. Among these rifles that are documented and tested by Iranians were FN CAL and AR-18 assault rifles. But the program didn’t adopt a new rifle and it ceased when Islamic Revolution occurred in 1978. In this article we will examine the history of Iran’s 5.56×45mm rifles.
Operation Sword Edge – Sayeret Matkal’s Covert Operation
On the night of 11 November, 2018 the prestige of the Israeli elite force, the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit “Sayeret Matkal” was damaged by the Palestinian fighters of the “Al-Qassam Brigades” and the consequences of the operation led to the resignation of notable members of the Israeli government. The Israelis believed that Sayeret Matkal using the latest modern technological means, they could breach the security and military system of the Qassam Brigades, but apparently they failed.
A Review of Iran’s Defense Industries Organization (DIO) Latest Products: Part Two
In this second part of our series looking at the Iranian Defense Industries Organization (DIO)’s current offerings we will examine AR-15 pattern rifles, precision rifles, and machine guns. In the first part of this series we examined the origins of Persian and Iranian small arms manufacturing and explored some of the DIO’s submachine guns and rifle offerings.
The NSV and the Legacy of Western Kazakh Machine-Building Company
The NSV heavy machine gun (Utyos/Utes) is one of the most recognized and respected heavy machine guns on the battlefield today. The original NSV was designed by Grigory Nikitin, Yuri Sokolov, and Vladimir Volkov and produced by a few different Soviet satellite states.[i] The most well-known of these NSV manufacturers is the Western Kazakh Machine-Building Company (ZKMK), formerly MetallistJSC, a manufacturing plant in Uralsk, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (modern-day Kazakhstan).[ii] In this article we’ll examine the history of the Kazakh NSV.
A Review of the Latest Products from Iran’s Defense Industries Organization (DIO) – Part One
In this first part of a series looking at Iran’s Defense Industries Organization (DIO) and its products we examine some of the DIO’s submachine guns and rifles.