Earlier this month Thales Australia announced the completion of construction on a new advanced manufacturing building at Lithgow Arms. The new facility features state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and is intended to foster ‘collaboration across research institutions, SME partners, and key industrial partners to create the soldier systems and small arms of the future’. Thales Australia invested $6.5 million (AUD) in the project with funding also coming from the New South Wales Government via a $1.12 million (AUD) grant from the NSW Regional Job Creation Fund.

According to a press release from Kalashnikov Concern, the Lebedev pistol has entered serial production. In the press release, the Russian arms company’s president Alan Lushnikov confirmed production of the pistol had begun in 2023 and announced that the company will be displaying at the EXPOTECHNOSTRAZH exposition from 15 to 17 March. Lushnikov said:

You may remember our recent “ Full-Auto on Pearl River“, and we are back again – but on land! This Photo Of The Day shows international security force professionals from Niger, shooting the M240B machine gun with blank and live ammunition. This happened at a range complex, near the John C. Stennis Space Center, in Mississippi, on February 8, 2023.

Lithuania’s Defence Materiel Agency has selected FN’s 7.62x51mm Minimi Mk3 to replace the KSP-58 (and other FN MAG variants) and MG3s currently in service. The same announcement stated that a new order for Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle ammunition had been made.

The iconic Steyr AUG has been in service with Austria’s Bundesheer since 1977, and now the Austrian Ministry of Defense has announced a major upgrade for the rifles. In a statement, Austria’s Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner said that 14,400 modified Sturmgewehr 77 A1 MOD would be issued and that the value of the contract to Steyr Arms was more than 20 million Euros ($21 million).

One of the highlights each year is Heckler & Koch‘s booth at EnforceTac. It’s easy to underestimate this two-day exhibition and its importance for defense and homeland security. About 8,000 people from about 70 countries come to the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg each year, which may look like a low figure but Enforce Tac is a trade fair for professionals from government agencies with security responsibilities and the armed forces only. Next year the exhibition will grow with one more exhibition hall, and one day extra, and we’re already looking forward to 2024. Heckler & Koch has its natural place here, and their booth is always crowded. In this article we will focus on the HK437 in 7″ and 9″ configurations. We wish we could take even better pictures than these, but you have to fight to even get a short glimpse of these things.

Winchester have been awarded several new contracts to produce ammunition for the US Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapons – the XM7 rifle and XM250 machine gun. The contracts will be undertaken at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP) in Independence, Mo. which is run by Winchester, on behalf of the Department of Defense.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves visits Beretta Defense Technologies to see the new Beretta ARX 200 .308 DMR (designated marksman rifle). Beretta has taken its flagship military rifle in .308, the ARX 200, and integrated modifications and accessories to make it a near-MOA rifle.

The Finnish Ministry of Defence announced that the Finnish Defence Forces will purchase Sako TRG M10 precision rifle systems, spare parts and sniper equipment in a deal worth 11 million euros. According to the Ministry of Defence, the multi-calibre TRG M10 precision rifle system can hit a variety of targets at ranges exceeding 1,400 metres.

In Part 1 of this article, I wrote about the early days of AK production in China, Part 2 was dedicated to the “golden years” of Type 56 history when it was exported to the US and produced in multiple countries.

In Part 1 of this article, I talked about early Chinese AKs and the humble beginnings of Kalashnikov rifle manufacturing in China. By 1956, China was building new factories and improving old ones with the help of Soviet engineers, and it seemed like nothing can break apart two great comrades – the Soviet Communist party and their Chinese counterparts.

Today’s location is the Prince Sultan Air Base, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We see U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jordan Courtney, 378th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron K9 handler, training with Mirco, her military working dog.

On 12 January, a unit of the Ukrainian Army’s 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade (47 OMBr) was seen equipped with US M16A4s for the first time. The rifles were seen equipped with Trijicon ACOG optics and some, a considerable percentage, were seen with M203 40mm under-barrel grenade launchers, and of course rail covers.

It is hard to find a place on Earth where people wouldn’t know what Kalashnikov is. Some know it through movies, some through video games, but a good portion of the world’s population have some firsthand experience with this rifle, since a Soviet, East European, or Chinese AK can be found almost anywhere.

FN Herstal have announced that snipers of the French Army will be using the FN Elity ballistic calculator operationally. The Elity is FN’s all-in-one system incorporating a laser range finder, laser designator, illuminator and a calculator to “increase hit probability and situational awareness”. The Elity will be used in conjunction with the SCAR-H PR which the French Army selected as their new Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle in 2020 and their PGM .50 caliber anti-materiel rifle. FN say that the French Army’s Ground Forces Battle Lab found during testing that the Elity improves shooting accuracy by 25% and also lightens the equipment carried by snipers by 6kg/13.2 lbs by replacing other gear.

One of the best parts of the SHOT Show is being able to get hands on with some really interesting firearms. This year was no different with Heckler & Koch, to my surprise, displaying their belt-fed machine guns: the MG4 and MG5. While I don’t think we’ll be seeing these on the commercial market any time soon, it was great to get to handle them in person.

There was significant buzz around FN America’s booth during the first day of SHOT 2023. FN America have unveiled a brand new rifle developed for a US government requirement. We headed over to take a look.

Ahead of this year’s SHOT Show SIG Sauer held an independent range day at the Clark County Shooting Complex putting on some impressive defense capability demonstration and showcasing their current range of firearms, optics and accessories.

Komando Pasukan Khusus, a Special Forces unit within the Indonesian National Armed Forces, has selected EOTECH’s Holographic Weapon Sight (HWS) and magnifier. The total number of sighting systems to be supplied to the Indonesian Armed Forces is 1,000 pieces and will be delivered within a few months in 2023.

Colt CZ Group have signed a new Joint Venture agreement with Hungary’s state-owned defence conglomerate N7 Holdings. The joint venture will see the establishment of a new small arms production facility in Hungary to provide firearms for the Hungarian Armed Forces.

The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court has ruled against C.G. Haenel’s appeal against the courts earlier decision that Haenel had infringed on Heckler & Koch’s patents. A statement was released by the Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia that outlined the case and the courts ruling on 30 December.

Last week we reported that the German government had allotted funds for the Bundeswehr’s procurement of its new rifle – the G95A1. Heckler & Koch have now released a statement and some photographs of the Bundeswehr’s new rifles. The new The ‘System Sturmgewehr Bundeswehr’ or Bundeswehr Assault Rifle System will be made up of two variants of the HK416 – the G95A1, with a 16.5 inch barrel and the G95KA1 carbine variant which will have a 14 inch barrel. The A1 designation suffix has likely been chosen to differentiate it from the HK416A7 variant, with a 14.5 inch barrel, which is already  in use with Germany’s Special Forces Command – the KSK.

On 14 December the German government’s Budget and Defense Committees convened and the initial funds for the procurement of the German Army’s next service rifle were granted. This clears the way for the initial procurement of the HK416A8 as the G95A1.

After seeing a considerable number of Colt Canada C7 rifles and C8 carbines being used in Ukraine, I decided to investigate their origins reaching out to various Ministries of Defense to enquire if they had provided the rifles. The Canadian Ministry of National Defence not only confirmed that they had provided various small arms but their spokesperson was also kind enough to confirm some of the types of small arms and light weapons which Canada has transferred to Ukraine since February. 

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, we’ve seen a number of FN MAG variants appear in use with Ukrainian forces. By far the most common appears to be the US M240 series. However, in recent months we’ve also seen a number of Swedish KSP-58 machine guns appear in imagery from the field.

The biggest Pakistan defense exhibition, IDEAS 2022, opened on November 15, offering visitors a chance to see small arms produced by Pakistan state-owned defense companies and private manufacturers. One of the biggest premiers of the expo is CW56, a new member of the roller-delayed blowback rifles family that already includes BW20 and CW39.

In this episode of TFBTV, James is at the Serbian state-owned factory Yugoimport SDPR to tour the state-of-the-art Miloš armored multipurpose vehicle with one of the engineers on the Miloš design team, as well as the deputy manager of the factory. The Miloš is built out with a number of American components including a Cummins diesel engine and Allison automatic transmission and has quite a few tricks up its sleeve. Of course, this is The Firearm Blog TV, so we focus heavily on the armaments of the Miloš including the Zastava manufactured, remote-controlled 12.7mm, thermal-equipped, laser-range-finding heavy machine gun on the roof, or the manually operated, American-made minigun option. We take a look at the Miloš today on TFBTV.

The US Department of Defense has awarded Winchester a cost-plus contract to carry out a manufacturing study to produce tracer projectiles for the US Army’s new family of 6.8mm weapons. The development will take place at the Lake City Ammunition Plant which Olin Winchester operates on the US Army’s behalf.

Finnish ammunition manufacturer Lapua have announced the suspension of some of their ammunition components due to “continued high product demand and the prevailing market conditions”. In the announcement, Lapua pointed to the ongoing “Ukraine situation” putting pressure on the availability of some materials used in ammunition production.

Photo Of The Day: You know we’re always on the lookout for the best photographers and firearms-related images. The goal is to give your eyes something worth watching every day, and today we have a combination of Royal Navy Commandos and their swarm of drones.