A plane transporting North Korean manufactured weapons and explosives has been captured by Thai law enforcement. The UN banned Nork weapon exports after their missile tests earlier this year. The Times Online reports ...
The weapons laden aircraft seized in Bangkok en route from North Korea at the weekend has been linked to two renowned East European arms traffickers by a respected Swedish think-tank in the latest twist in the mysterious saga.
The Ilyushin-76 aircraft, which was found to be carrying 35 tonnes of weapons including rockets and grenades, was most recently registered under a company called Beibars, linked to the Serbian arms dealer Tomislav Dmanjanovic. It had previously been registered with three companies identified by the US Department of the Treasury as firms controlled by the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
UN sanctions passed in June after Pyongyang tested a nuclear warhead ban North Korea from exporting any arms except light weapons — a big blow to the arms trade, which provides a significant source of income to the rogue state.
South Korea looks to be the first country to deploy a next-gen airburst grenade / assault rifle weapon in combat. Korea Times reports ...
South Korean troops to be deployed in Afghanistan will be armed with the latest K-11 airburst assault rifles for self-defense, according to the Ministry of National Defense.
The ministry unveiled the timeline as well as the troop numbers and equipment to be sent to the Central Asian nation, last week.
About 350 soldiers will be dispatched to Afghanistan with the main mission of protecting 120 South Korean civilian reconstruction workers, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said in a National Assembly session. Two dozen civilian reconstruction workers have already been sent to the war-torn country.
Daewoo K11. From Wikipedia.
Built in the style of the now defunct XM29 OICW, the Daewoo K11 features a 5.56mm assult rifle mated to a airburst grenade launcher and ballistics computer. Where is differs from the XM29 is that the grenades are 20mm, not 25mm, and the grenade launcher is bolt action, not semi-automatic.
Like the XM29, a ballistic computer programs each grenade before firing, instructing it how long after firing before detonation. This video of a prototype K11 demonstartes the functionality.
It will be very interesting to see how well this concept works in real combat. The US Army tests found that a 20mm grenade was not big enough to be effective in a airburst configuration. Unless I am mistaken, the shrapnel from an airburst grenade will go in all directions, and therefor at least 50% is going up instead of down towards the intended target.
Many thanks to Snafu Solomon for sending me the link.
For the last fifty years 100,000's of M1 Garands and M1 Carbines have been sitting in Korean warehouses, many of which will now be sold to US collectors. AFP reports:
Washington has approved South Korea's plan to sell about 86,000 M1 and 22,000 carbines together valued at 130 billion won (108 million dollars), the ministry said.
The rifles used during the Korean and Vietnam wars have been kept at military warehouses, it said.
"The US government recently approved our plan to sell old M1 and carbine rifles, which were given to our soldiers as part of a US aid programme," a ministry spokesman told AFP.
The rifles are occasionally used by reserve forces for drills, he said without giving details.
The military will dispose of all its M1s but will keep about 640,000 carbines for reserve forces, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said.
That means 640,000 more are patiently waiting in cosmoline to be shipped over stateside 
Many thanks to REMOV for the link.
These photos are of a prototype rail system for the Daewoo K2, which is the assault rifle used by the Korean army.
Click to expand. Photo ⓒ Chen “SMGLee” Lee. Used with permission.
Click to expand. Photo ⓒ Chen “SMGLee” Lee. Used with permission.
Click to expand. Photo ⓒ Chen “SMGLee” Lee. Used with permission.
I looks like a real improvement over the archaic standard K2 handguard.
Standard Handguard. Photo from Wikipedia.
Many thanks to Chen for the use of his photos.
More photos here.
The “Neon”?
It looks like Poland is developing their own version of the XM29 OICW concept, according to the MSPO 2008 website. It may or may not be called the “Neon”, Google translate is not great at best of times.
What makes the Polish concept unique is that the grenade launcher part of the weapon will, at this stage in the design, be able to be removed and swapped for a different caliber, either 40mm or 25mm.
I am going to predict that they will end up with one caliber and not bother with the complexity and cost of multiple calibers.
It has the usual fire control system to program air burst grenades to detonate at a certain distance.
I will be watching with interest to see what happens with this program. Sweden and Singapore are also developing similar weapons and South Korea will be fielding the XK11 Korean New Rifle in 2010.
XK11 Korean New Rifle
More information here (translated with google)
I have done my best to find accurate information about this firearm on the Polish MSPO 2008 website. I do not speak or read Polish so I had to rely on Google Translate. If I got something wrong, please correct me in the comments.
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