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.
Egypt
The Egyptian Helwan 920 ‘Multi-Machine Gun’
In 2020 the Egyptian ministry of military production announced the manufacture of the first ‘multi-machine gun’, the announcement came with national pride as the Multi-Machine Gun (or multi-purpose machine gun possibly depending on translation) will be completely manufactured by Egypt. The machine gun, called the Helwan 920, was shown in the previous IDEX Conferences at Dubai IDEX 2017, Egypt EDEX 2018 and Egypt EDEX 2019 as prototypes. The weapon has appeared on Egyptian government arms sites since the early 2010s.
The Hakim Rifle in Somali Service: A Forgotten History
The Hakim self-loading rifle is often thought of as having been symbolic of Egypt’s military presence in the Sinai peninsula during the 1956 War and as a middle ground between its 7.92×57mm FN49 self-loading rifles and later 7.62×39mm Kalashnikov pattern self-loading rifles. However, there exists little evidence that the rifle was used in such capacity by the Egyptians, only a few photographs exist of the Hakim in use in the Sinai, usually in rear echelon or training contexts. Much more evidence suggests that the Hakim was employed heavily in Yemen by both Egyptian soldiers and their Yemeni allies through photographs and Hakim rifles that occasionally surface on the Yemeni market. A further yet unexplored destination and user of Hakim rifles is Somalia and this article will illustrate how evidence suggests that it was actually one of the most prolific users of the Hakim.
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.)
The Egyptian Hakim Rifle
Silah Report’s editor in chief, Miles Vining, recently published a new TFBtv video discussing the history, mechanics and use of the Egyptian 7.92×57mm Hakim rifle.
Egyptian Vickers Gun
At the beginning of the Second World War Britain ordered 200 Vickers medium machine guns, chambered in .303, to be sent to Egypt. The guns were ordered directly from the Vickers-Armstrong company and were to be used by the Egyptian army. The Vickers MG Collection & Research Association recently shared an interesting video examining one of these Egyptian Vickers.
The Riyadh Rifle in Egyptian Hands: Archival Footage and Popular Media
In this article, we will examine the documented Egyptian usage of the ‘Riyadh’ rifle, which was originally known as the Czechoslovakian-made 7.62×54mmR chambered ZG-51 91/30 bolt-action rifle, a Mosin-Nagant variant. We will examine appearances of the Riyadh in both archival photographs and footage as well as Egyptian popular media such as films.
Egypt’s Forgotten Weapon: The Riyadh – Egypt’s clone of the ZG-51
Egypt at one point produced clones of an incredibly rare rifle, the ZG-51, which is the older brother so to say for the better-known Czechoslovakian Vz54. The ZG-51 is a bolt action rifle that uses the 7.62×54mmR cartridge and is considered a variant of the Russian Mosin-Nagant 91/30. Indeed, the rifle is shrouded in enough obscurity that researching it online will yield very limited results, thus making the ZG-51 (and the ‘Riyadh’) one of the most mysterious firearms related to Egypt right after the crudely made “Egyptian Thompson” which we have examined in other articles. We will present here all the materials and information we managed to find on the ZG-51 and its connection to Egypt.
Improvised Small Arms of ISIS in the Sinai Campaign
Ever since Libya fell into the civil war of 2011 Egypt has had a massive problem with arms smuggling on its borders with Libya. Thousands upon thousands of firearms, tons of explosives, legacy anti-air MANPADs, as well as advanced weaponry like the Kornet ATGM. Egypt in 2011 was almost in a complete state of chaos due to a revolution that saw its then-president Hosni Mubarak removed from power after ruling the country for thirty years and replaced by the SCAF (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces). In this article we will examine some of the improvised munitions and weapons that have been spotted on the Sinai Peninsula.
Podcast V29: Michael – IDF Veteran Paratrooper of Yom Kippur War
Welcome to the 29th episode of the Silah Report Podcast! We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Michael, a former veteran paratrooper in the Israeli Defense Forces who participated in the Yom Kippur War (known in the Arab world as The October War). Michael shared his experiences in the IDF starting with his training, which had a lot of surprises hidden for us, all the way up to his role in the Yom Kippur War in 1973. We also enquired about the types and origins of firearms he encountered during his service that his Arab adversaries had used. Later on, Michael would end up serving as a firearms instructor (specializing in Warsaw Pact weaponry) and after that a firearms specialist for a private firm.
Note: The views of the individuals we interview on the Silah Report Podcast represent themselves only and not the views of Silah Report. In Silah Report, one of our core tenets is to remain apolitical and unbiased when it comes to our research. Indeed, in Silah Report we have members from different ethnicities, religions, and political views. We do not let our personal convictions affect the quality of the content we provide to our audience and we do our best to provide you with the most accurate and unbiased information available.