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.
M4
AR15 Rifles from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Based Royal Arms Company
The AR15 or ‘M16’ & ‘M4’ pattern self-loading rifles are a very popular choice in many commercial and military markets the world over, Pakistan is no exception. Some Pakistani law-enforcement and military units utilise varying models of this platform already and a large prevalence of M4 and M16 5.56×45mm rifles of various types and manufacturers have been creeping onto the market slowly in the last few decades or so, none more so than the Colt or FN marked M4A1 and M16A2/A4 rifles seeping through from Afghanistan in the last decade. There is such a high demand for these particular firearms and a low supply and high price for genuine examples that various manufacturers stepped up-to-the plate and have started to manufacture their own copies within the ex-FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, mainly in Peshawar’s small-arms manufacturing zones but also within the infamous arms manufacturing town of Darra Adamkhel.
Black Aluminum in Cloth: Syrian M16/M4 Fabric Wraps
A phenomenon that has been observed with YPG/YPJ Fighters in recent years has been the practice of wrapping service rifles with fitted fabric. The extent to which rifles have been fitted goes from small pieces that might just cover the magazine or handguard to full-length covers that can sometimes enclose the entire rifle. The reason behind these wraps range from a sort of camouflage to a purely aesthetic venture. In this part of a series of posts looking at the trend we will examine the wraps seen on M16/M4-pattern rifles. You can find part one of this series here.
Darra AKM Rifles with AR-15 Features
Daniel Hughes is a Research Assistant with Armament Research Services. He has worked on several OSINT projects examining the use of arms and munitions in the Middle East and Central Asia.
The town of Darra Adam Khel in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has been involved in the craft production of firearms for over a century. The craft production that takes place in Darra provides an important source of small arms and light weapons for many regional actors. Continued monitoring of open and closed source media in the region has yielded many interesting data. One such observation is the increasing popularity of AKM-pattern self-loading rifles which imitate the appearance—and some of the features—of the 5.56 × 45 mm AR-15 self-loading rifle. These Darra ‘AKM-15’ rifles are explored below.
The AK M4geries of Darra & the Khyber Pass
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit some of my friends and colleagues in Darra, nestled in the mountains of the Pak-Afghan borders tribal territories during a visit in April and May of 2019. I was fortunate enough to handle, film and test-fire a few of the firearms I encountered (and they urged me try out as many as I wanted) on my trip so this is the first of a few that are to come. I am sure that a lot of you have glimpsed images of this outstanding bit of engineering and creativity previously but this video is a closer look with a little more detail and background information in an easier to digest package, of course in English.