The nations of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are attempting to build a strong defense partnership centered around firearms and ammunition production. While information is still forthcoming on the details of what and how this partnership will develop, Egypt seems to have made a commitment to local production of Emirati firearms. This is a continuation of Egypt’s desire to seek less reliance on the United States and a more diverse arsenal.
Submachine Guns
Operation Swallow 1962 & Captured Syrian Weapons
In March 1962 the Israeli Defence Forces launched a raid on Syrian positions in the village of Al-Nuqayb, on the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee. The raid, known as Operation Swallow (מבצע סנונית) was described by the IDF as a retaliation for Syrian attacks on Israeli fishermen in the Sea of Galilee. During the operation Israeli commandos captured a selection of weapons which were subsequently displayed for the press. In this article we’ll examine the weapons captured.
Pre-State Israeli ‘Revolver’ Ammunition
In the pre-State era of Israel’s existence, it has been well covered both here at Silah Report and elsewhere, that various Jewish armed groups addressed their extreme lack of materiel through clandestine methods. This short article covers one of the interesting ways the pre-State forces supplied ammunition for the wide range of small arms in service.
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.
Uzbek Fighters Visiting The Pak-Afghan Tribal-Area Markets
A long-lost video filmed by fighters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, once thought lost to us who’ve been following the arms trade in the Pak-Afghan region over the last decade and longer, has recently resurfaced after a few years of it being pushed off the world-wide-web and into the deep reaches of the online archives. It was once again shared with us by our colleague Mick who runs an OSINT feed, much to our jubilation.
Silah Report Podcast V33: Iranian Submachine Guns (1979-Present)
In our previous article we reviewed the history of different submachine guns which entered Iranian service during the Pahlavi era. In 1979, when the Pahlavi dynasty was overthrown by Islamic Revolutionaries, many small arms purchased by the former regime continued their service with Artesh (armed forces) and newly branded armed forces such as Sepah Pasdaran (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps). There were a couple of submachine gun purchases made by the new regime in the 1980s from unknown sources, these purchases mostly were conducted by IRGC to arm their units, including a new unit called Ansar-Al Mahdi who are tasked with VIP protection as well Saberin and S.N.S.F. In this article, accompanied by an interview with the author on a recent episode of the Silah Report Podcast, we will examine the submachine gun platforms which entered Iranian service after the Islamic Revolution using photographic evidence.
World War Two Era Weaponry in the Hands of ISIS in Sinai
Their is currently an insurgency being fought in Northern Sinai between the Egyptian military and security forces with ISIS’ branch “Wilayat Sainaa” (Sinai Province). We have found materials published by Egypt’s Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior that has listed some of the interesting gear and weaponry captured from ISIS. This includes World War Two era weaponry, DIY weapons, and what appears to be a single modified M1 helmet that could possibly have been the property of the Israeli Defense Forces once upon a time (this will be covered in a later article); this brings up the question: how much gear and weaponry were looted from battlefields by the locals during the conflicts between Egypt and Israel. In this article, we will present some of the rather exotic World War Two era weaponry while saving the DIY materials for a future article.
(Note: While World War Two era weaponry is quite a broad term that encompasses firearms still being used by modern-day armies such as the M2 Browning and the DShK heavy machine guns; this article will focus on small arms that are no longer in production, extremely rare to be acquired on the civilian and black markets and are not modern-day replicas.)
Silah Report Podcast V33: Iranian Submachine Guns (1941-1979)
During the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Iranian military and law enforcement were equipped with a variety of submachine guns of Western and Eastern origins. Some were locally produced while others were imported in limited numbers. The main Persian word to describe a submachine gun is mosalsal (مسلسل in the Persian alphabet) which loosely means a ‘small arm that shoots continuously’. Here we will take a close look at examples of submachine guns that were imported or produced locally by the Iranian government during the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi between 1941 to 1979 based on the existing information and photographic evidence. Also included in this article is a podcast interview with the piece’s author Yousef Riazi.
A Modified M3 ‘Grease Gun’ Submachine Gun
The M3 and M3A1 are a straight blowback submachine gun designs, chambered in the U.S. military’s then standard issue pistol round – .45 ACP cartridge, and designed in the USA. The M3 was first adopted by the U.S. military in a limited capacity in early 1943, eventually supplanting the M1 and M1A1 Thompson submachine guns. Fascinatingly, a significant number have also been seen in the Pak-Afghan Region.
A Sterling Submachine Gun Found In Darra
The Sterling submachine gun is a well renowned submachine gun of British design by George William Patchett – the head arms designer at Sterling Armaments Company in Dagenham, England, UK. The weapon is a select-fire, blowback operated submachine gun, utilising advanced primer ignition design and is chambered in the widely used 9×19mm cartridge. It is fondly remembered as a very reliable and rugged platform to this day by its users. It was initially adopted by the UK armed forces starting around 1953 replacing the earlier and more infamous STEN submachine gun and ended up being removed from active service in around 1994, replaced by the 5.56×45mm SA80 self-loading rifle. This platform of SMG has been used by a wide variety of countries across the globe and has also been manufactured by the UK, Canada, India and also Chile.