Turkey has announced that a new version of their 7.62x51mm rifle, the MPT-76, has passed qualification with the Turkish Army. The MPT-76-MH has been significantly lightened. It has been reported by some sources that the rifle will be used in the role of a designated [Read More…]
Today’s photo features graduating Somalian Army conscripts being sworn in next to some new Turkish MPT-76 rifles and MG-3 general purpose machine guns made by Turkey’s state-owned small arms manufacturer MKEK. The photo was taken at a graduation ceremony for [Read More…]
In a show of patriotism Turkey’s state-owned small arms manufacturer MKEK (Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation) has delivered the next batch of new MPT-76 rifles to the Turkish Army ahead of schedule. With staff reportedly working overtime the next [Read More…]
A Turkish news outlet has reported that Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı or MİT) will be the next organisation to receive the country’s new domestically produced infantry rifle, the MPT-76. A Haber, a Turkish TV [Read More…]
Turkey’s state-run Makina Ve Kimya Endustrisi Kurumu/Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK) have announced that non-commercial military exports of their new MPT-76 rifle have begun. Turkish news site Hurriyet report that MKEK have already secured a [Read More…]
Last year TFB reported about the MPT-76 rifle with some unique pictures from the MKE stand at IWA. As you may recall, this project first started as a 5,56×45, but has since developed to a 7,62×51 mm after feedback and new research and development. I guess if [Read More…]
MKE – Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Kurumu – from Ankara in Turkey has roots going back to the 15:th century. Turkey has a massive army, the Armed Forces number more than 600.000 active people. MKE is one of the main suppliers to the Turkish Armed Forces, but [Read More…]
The Turkish Defense Ministry has announced the continued acceptance of their new service rifle, the 7.62x51mm MPT-76 in a new batch of 15,014 rifles for their armed services. This is out of an initial order of 35,014 rifles that was placed in June of this year. Now, the [Read More…]
Two weeks ago, Janes reported that production of the Turkish MPT-76 rifle had begun. The rifle is a 7.62mm caliber derivative of the German HK417 rifle, itself a derivative of the AR-15 series of rifles. The MPT-76 inherits the operating rod mechanism of the G36 through [Read More…]
Six years ago the Turkish government announced that their armed forces were switching from the H&K G3 to an HK416 derivative that they were manufacturing domestically under license from H&K. The rifle, which was virtually identical to the HK416N, was called [Read More…]
Photo Of The Day: TFB’s favorite shots (pun intended) served on a daily basis. Today we have various images from 3E EOS, or 3E Elektro Optik Sistemler, from Turkey. Above you can see a “boosted” Heckler & Koch HK417 with a PARS thermal sight and a [Read More…]
In 2019, with help from reader Stimpy75 and my friend Emrah, TFB reported about new Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) that was unveiled at the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF) in Turkey. The TOKAT 571 PDW falls into a medium-sized class of machine pistols, [Read More…]
While in most countries firearms development and production are getting more and more restrictive, Turkey seems to effectively expand its gun industry, and the recent IDEF 2021 is a good example. Almost half of the firearms manufacturers at the expo were founded in the [Read More…]
Zenith Firearms is a family-owned company based in Afton, Virginia. I remember them clearly from my last SHOT Show visit, where one of their employees took a lot of time and effort to show me around and explain their products. I appreciated that, a lot. I also know [Read More…]
TFB reader, Stimpy75, was very kind to provide the following photos from the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF 2019) that took place in early May, 2019. There were some small arms on hand, including the Tokat 571 machine pistol we posted about, but armored [Read More…]
The JMK Bora-12 (or JNG-90) isn’t exactly new or groundbreaking as the Turkish state-owned arms company MKEK has been working on it since 2004. However what is new is the configuration that we saw at Indo Defense 2018. Essentially updating the design, the Bora-12 [Read More…]
At Indo Defense 2018 this year we at TFB were able to get a hands-on examination of MKE’s KNT-76 Designated Marksman Rifle. The rifle is an upgraded MPT-76 service rifle that has a number of additional design features to increase its accuracy and precision as a [Read More…]
The Turkish firearms manufacturer ATA Arms have signed a contract with the Turkish Under-secretariat for Defence Industries (SSB) for the local production of a 40mm grenade launcher. ATA Arms will produce their BA 40 grenade launcher. The company has historically [Read More…]
We just had a look at the Revolving Shotgun (Sibergun RSC410) and it’s now time for another product from the same group. This time we’re going to look at their COSMOS 751 Bolt-Action sniper rifle, with a claimed effective shooting range up to just short if a [Read More…]
The Turkish firearm component manufacturing company MERTSAV Defense has recently unveiled an under barrel 40x46mm Low-Velocity grenade launcher, as revealed by posts on Pakistan Defense forum. The launcher utilizes an M1913 Picatinny rail attachment system to marry to [Read More…]
A recent flood of images from the excellent Turkish defense armaments based Twitter account Aybars have revealed that Turkish infantrymen are receiving the latest variant of the 7.62x51mm NATO MPT76 as a Designated Marksman’s Rifle. To be clear, this isn’t [Read More…]
At this year’s 100th Anniversary of the Azeri Army Parade in Baku, Azerbaijan we were able to get a glimpse of some of the recent developments within the Azeri Armed Forces while on parade. In terms of small arms the most significant observation is the recent [Read More…]
The independent Turkish small arms company Sarsılmaz has released their first pre-production prototypes of the MPT76 and should soon begin production on their share (10,000 rifles) of the 7.62x51mm NATO MPT76 rifle contract ordered by the Turkish Armed Forces. MKEK [Read More…]
Last month drawings of MKEK’s domestically produced FN MAG were released to the public, along with a 5.56x45mm NATO design. Through that and the specification pages on the companies website, we know that the company is finally coming out to the public over [Read More…]
While the majority of the defense industry is fixated on the adoption of the 7.62x51mm NATO MPT-76 select fire rifle by the Turkish Land Forces (which is still not complete in the least), or the more recent release of a 5.56x45mm version, MKEK has quietly been rolling [Read More…]
MKEK select-fire 7.62x51mm NATO MPT76s currently being issued to soldiers in the Turkish Army will soon be coming with magnified daylight optics in the form of the Turkish company 3E EOS and its variable magnification daylight optic, the AVCI (1X-4X). The optic is [Read More…]
Aybars is a Turkish Twitter analyst who very recently has been sharing a number of very detailed photographs concerning precision rifles among Turkish security forces. Primarily these are from the infantry deployed in Syria, however, he has also focused on Special [Read More…]
MKEK has taken to IDEF 2017 this year by releasing a 5.56x45mm NATO version of their 7.62x51mm NATO MPT-76, a Turkish made AR10. The select-fire, piston operated MPT-55 comes in two variants, a standard barrel configuration of 14.5 inches and 7.3 pounds, and a shorter [Read More…]
Turkish defense technological company Aselsan will demonstrate a product originally introduced in January of this year (not covered on TFB yet) at IDEF 2017 in Turkey (late May). The Van Kedisi dual thermal/IR sight is similar in size to products that FLIR usually puts [Read More…]
Jane’s has reported that the joint Kazakh and Turkish defense company Kazakhstan Aselsan Engineering has begun export of the Python thermal weapons sight to Turkey. The company is jointed owned by both Turkish and Kazakh partners, with a manufacturing base in [Read More…]