Walking Around LAAD 2019 With a Camera

by Ronaldo Olive

Published: May 8th, 2019

When one walks around any large gun/defense/security exhibition, the variety of weaponry on display usually causes a mind-boggling effect, particularly when a camera is being carried by the person mentioned. You turn away from a particular stand or booth and have a glimpse of a gun-covered panel just past a massive APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) or radar antenna in the foreground. “Have I taken photos there?”, you may think. “Should I take pictures later or tomorrow?”. At night, when checking your camera card at the hotel, you start wondering “where the heck are the photos I’m sure I took of gun X in stand Y”?

This, of course, happened to many visitors – the author included – of the LAAD 2019 Defence and Security fair that was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, early in April 2019. The following is just a quick, closing panorama of some of the hardware that TFB saw there.

Okay, some heavier stuff here. Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) brought its T129 Atak advanced attack and tactical reconnaissance helicopter in service since 2014, a model developed and built in cooperation with Italy (it's an Augusta A129 Mangusta lookalike). Shown is the chin-mounted M197 20x102mm three-barrel rotary cannon, with a 500-round capacity.

Also from Turkey is the JMK Bora 12 (a.k.a. JNG-90), a bolt-action 7.62x51mm sniper rifle with a detachable 10-round box magazine, empty weight of 6.5 kg, overall length of 1220/1265 mm, and a barrel length of 660 mm. The manufacturer (MKE - Small Arms Weapon Factory) claims a 0.3 MOA accuracy at 100 meters.

Singapore's ST Kinetics keeps on showing its 919 mm Compact Personal Weapon (CPW), a gun that has been around since 2008, or so, but with no confirmed use by any military force or LE agency. Nor would manufacturer's personnel at hand be very specific about the actual program status. The EOTech sight-fitted example on display had a very low (A00006) serial number. Brief specifications of the delayed blowback, selective-fire weapon: barrel length -180 mm; length (stock retracted/extended) - 393/597 mm; weight with a full 30-round magazine - 2 kg.

Heckler & Koch's 919 mm UMP-9 (Universal MaschinenPistole) is far from being a new gun, but the exhibition of a sound-suppressed example at a small Brazilian Navy booth in the LAAD 2019 grounds confirmed that the type has been in service alongside the long-used MP5SD SD6 by the crack Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais (Marine Corps) Tonelero Special Ops Battalion. It's no secret, however, that the older, classic SD ("Schalldampfer", Sound Suppressor) is still the preferred subgun for the job. The UMP-9 is also in service with some Brazilian Army units. (https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/08/03/hk-ump-brazilian-spec-ops-training-rio-2016/)

Although the standard Brazilian Marines rifle is the Colt M16A2, the Tonelero Battalion is equipped with the shorter, carbine versions, including the M4. The gun on top is Colt's SCW (Sub Compact Weapon) with a Surefire M900V vertical foregrip/weapon light, an EOTech holographic sight, and a Maxim Defense retractable stock. The bottom one is a CQB (Close Quarters Battle) variant with the same M900V accessory, while fitted with a hybrid 4X Trijicon ACOG sight, and a Surefire SOCOM556 Mini-Monster sound suppressor.

The IMBEL (Industria de Material Belico do Brasil) 5.5645 mm IA2 selective-fire rifle is now in service in growing numbers with the Brazilian Army, being in the process of fully replacing the 7.6251 mm FALs and Para-FALs of the same manufacturer. This example is fitted with a Knight's M4QD (now, KDSS NT4) sound suppressor, a Mepro MX-T 3x magnifier (ready for a possible Meprolight red-dot/reflex sight ahead), and a SureFire KM3 tactical flashlight.

IMBEL's Fabrica de Itajuba (Itajuba Factory) seems to be trying to give its Mauser-action-based AGLC 7.6251 mm sniper rifle, still in production, a new breath of life. The gun's pretty conventional wooden stock has given place to a prototype polymer, fully adjustable stock, as seen in the photos. Current users' inputs are being used in the design's definition.

SIG Sauer was present at the LAAD 2019 Show in full force with a particularly large stand where everything from its current line of pistols, submachine guns and rifles was displayed and eagerly manipulated by visitors. Shown here are examples of the MCX family of modular 5.5645 mm rifles.

Armalite was shown to have found new customers in the Bazilian LE community, as demonstrated by the sound-suppressed 5.5645 mm M-15 (top photo) and the 7.6251 mm AR-10 Super SASS recently added to the inventory of the nationwide FNSP - Forca Nacional de Seguranca Publica (National Public Security Force), headquartered in Brasilia, the country's capital.

Bulgaria's Arsenal company, founded way back in 1878, displayed its current range of products, including (left-to-right, top-to-bottom) the 5.5645 mm AR-M52TB and 7.6239 mm AR-M5F41 AK-derived rifles, and the 40 mm UBGL-M8 (Under-Barrel) and SAGL (Stand-Alone) grenade launchers.

INDUMIL - Industria Militar de Colombia is a long-established licensed manufacturer of 5.5645 mm Galil AR, MAR, and SAR rifles (including blue lookalikes for training purposes) and, more recently, is offering the so-called Cordova-kit to add polymer components (upper receiver cover, handguard, redesigned pistol grip, vertical foregrip, and foldable stock) to the well-known guns.

#Brazil #LAAD2019 #ArmsExhibition

Ronaldo Olive

Ronaldo is a long-time (starting in the 1960s) Brazilian writer on aviation, military, LE, and gun subjects, with articles published in local and international (UK, Switzerland, and U.S.) periodicals. His vast experience has made him a frequent guest lecturer and instructor in Brazil's armed and police forces.

More by Ronaldo Olive

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14 of 17 comments

Adam D. on May 09, 2019

That Super SASS looks nice!
Wonder what the accuracy of the Armalite barrels are.
Armalite had a very good reputation for accuracy with the old ownership,
but haven't heard or read anything about the capabilities of these more recent guns.

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Foxyalmondi on May 09, 2019

"claims a 0.3 MOA accuracy at 100 meters"
0.3 MOA is the same regardless of the distance in meters, that's literally the entire point of using MOA.

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- See 11 previous
- Rnasser Rnasser on May 09, 2019
  
  @foxyalmondi Angular measurement is the same
  Groupings are not... rifles that deliver 0.3 MOA groups at 100 m do not group into 0.3 MOA at 600 m
  
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- UofU David on May 09, 2019
  
  @Rnasser Rnasser Please explain how 0.3 MOA at 100m does not translate to 0.3 MOA at 600m
  
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- Suppressed on May 09, 2019
  
  @UofU David He’s saying that it does equal out in terms of angular measurement.
  He’s also saying that a rifle that shoots .3 MOA @100y is most likely not going to shoot .3 MOA @ 600y. Maybe it would in a vacuum or whatever, but increasing the distance 6-fold magnifies the forces and events that influence the path/speed of the bullet.
  If he’s actually not saying that and I’m misrepresenting him, I’ll just kindly show myself the door and let the precision shooters flex it out in here.
  
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- UofU David on May 09, 2019
  
  @Suppressed Got ya.
  
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- Bob on May 09, 2019
  
  @UofU David simple, it is .3 MOA for EVERY 100 M
  so 6 x 100 = 600 therefore, 6 x .3 = 1.8
  
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- UofU David on May 10, 2019
  
  @Bob No Bob. The angle does not change.
  
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- Bob on May 10, 2019
  
  @UofU David I did not say the angle changed. but.. the group size sure did!
  all you are doing is basically a right triangle and are solving for the side opposite the angle ! The longer the distance, the greater the distance of the side opposite.
  
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- UofU David on May 10, 2019
  
  @Bob Yes MOA = Angle. The group may be larger due to external influence not due to the rifle.
  
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- UofU David on May 11, 2019
  
  @Bob Never said I did not know how to convert MOA to group size in inches or furlongs at a given distance.
  
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- Norm Glitz on May 11, 2019
  
  @UofU David Wind.
  
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- Norm Glitz on May 11, 2019
  
  @Bob MOA is an angle, not a distance.
  
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- UofU David on May 11, 2019
  
  @Norm Glitz Please read the other comments. The MOA or angle the projectile does not change. But yes you are right external factors can change trajectory and result in a larger area of impact. I got that. I really do. Thanks.
  
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