At the World Defense Show exhibition that was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in March of this year, there were a lot of companies that you would expect to see in the Middle Eastern defense expo. Usually, it is companies from Eastern Europe, UAE, USA, Africa, but in this case, one of the best small arms displays at the entire exhibition was showcased by a company from South Korea called SNT Motiv.

The US Army is yet to officially announce the winner(s) of the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) program but we know how many weapons they’ll be ordering between October 2022 and September 2023. The US Army’s weapon system program acquisition costs for the 2023 fiscal year show that the US Army is seeking to initially procure 29,046 weapons during the period.

Generally, there isn’t much information about Sudan’s military industry in general and their small arms in particular. The country has been sanctioned and isolated from the international community for a long time as a result of bloody civil war, genocide, and war crimes committed during the War in Darfur. While very little information is available, some Middle East defense exhibitions, such as IDEX in UAE and World Defense Show (WDS) in Saudi Arabia give us a unique chance to take a glimpse of what is going on in the Sudan arms industry.

TFB’s Photo Of The Day is where you can discover the world of firearms through a camera lens. Every day we run a new theme, selected pictures, a short story and credit to the person behind the lens. Today we have some HOT images of French snipers and spotters from the 35e régiment d’infanterie.

Brazil’s IMBEL have completed and delivered the first batch of new 7.62x51mm IA2 rifles. The batch of 50 rifles will be delivered to the Brazilian Army’s Army Evaluation Center (CAEx) for extensive testing.

Photo Of The Day: Established in 2014 this is TFB’s way to show carefully selected photographs on a daily basis together with a brief story. Hopefully, you’ll learn something new and interesting. We also welcome comments in the intended section below. Today we go to Brooke’s Point, Philippines. We have U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Tyler Bradsher, a native of Foley, Mo., and a rifleman assigned to Charlie Company, Battalion Landing Team, 1/1, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), setting security with an M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle.

Historically, throughout the 20th century, Egypt had a strong and extensive firearms industry. Hakim and Rasheed rifles, Helwan pistol, Egyptian-made AKs called Maadi or MISR were used domestically and exported throughout the world. But at the beginning of the 21 century, most service weapons in Egypt, especially with the Ministry of Interior, are imported, which means that political turmoils can easily compromise procurement and supply of spare parts for the currently issued firearms. To decrease the country’s military dependence on exports, the Egyptian Military Factory is slowly trying to modernize the firearms they currently manufacture. Two examples of such efforts are the “upgraded 7.62x39mm automatic assault rifle” presented at EDEX-2022 in Cairo and World Defense Show in Riyadh.

After almost no traveling for about two years, I was really looking forward to this year’s edition of Enforce Tac and IWA OutdoorClassics 2022 in Nürnberg, Germany. Enforce Tac is a two-day trade fair for security agencies, where only law enforcement and military personnel are allowed. It’s here where you’ll find fully automatic firearms and similar “items”. Compared to IWA, it is a much smaller exhibition, and much more specialized.

Photo Of The Day: TFB’s favorite shots (pun intended) served on a daily basis. We don’t think you have seen today’s selection before, taken on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) during a live-fire exercise, in January 2022. We have an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician who fires an M14 Enhanced Battle Rifle. The rifle was originally built for use with units like the Navy SEALS and Delta Force within the United States Special Operations Command.

Today we have pictures from the Russian-Pakistani Friendship shooting competition from 2018. The results were a draw, but we’re left with images of interesting firearms.

SA80 is the designation for a revolutionary family of assault weapons. On its introduction, it proved so accurate that the Army marksmanship tests had to be redesigned.

The Canadian government has confirmed that shipments of ‘lethal’ military aid will be shipped to Ukraine as the crisis with Russia continues. The military aid will take the form of small arms and ammunition and will follow earlier non-lethal equipment which has already been sent by Canada.

TFB’s Photo Of The Day tries to push the excellent work done by so many photographers around the World and in the firearms industry. It’s a celebration to those who go in harm’s way trying to catch those special moments for us, but also those who stay in the studio working out the perfect lighting and setting hour after hour. Armed with skills, cameras and sometimes a fair bit of editing here is where their hard work ends up. The production of today’s pictures is from Slovenia and involves a lot of fresh air and very little inside studio work.

The single-shot, disposable, recoilless smoothbore 84 mm anti-tank weapon AT4 made by SAAB has a new customer on the list. The Indian Armed Forces have ordered an unknown amount of the model AT4CS AST, to be used by the Indian Army and Indian Air Force. In total, more than 1 million AT4’s have been produced.

POTD, short for Photo Of The Day, is TFB’s daily article series where we try to find pictures that will entertain and educate you. Did you know that credit for the first-ever color photograph taken goes to the mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell? At a lecture in 1861, he unveiled what is to be considered the first durable color photograph. It certainly sounds like an interesting lecture.

Over the years TFB’s POTD has gathered thousands of interesting images from around the world. If you’re interested in a special subject, you can use our search function. For instance, if you’re looking for photos of snipers just check here. Certain military units can also be searched and found, as well as countries: the Green Berets can be found here and the U.S. Marines here. If you’re obsessed with the Kriss Vector there are loads of images here. Today we have a photo from one of the Top Posts from the 10th Special Forces Group – Airborne. Can you guess what kind of firearms they’re going over the beach with?

Goodbye Dragunov SVD and 7.62×54mmR! Welcome CZ Bren 2 PPS and 7.62x51mm!  The Czech Army (Armáda České republiky) has ordered a total of 350 pieces of the new CZ Bren 2 PPS rifles. The rifle is made by Česká zbrojovka a.s. (CZ) on the basis of the CZ Bren 2, which in turn was developed from the 805 BREN in caliber 5.56x45mm or 7.62x39mm.

Photo Of The Day – established in 2014 this is our way to show various photos with firearms on a daily basis. There’s always a story to the pictures and hopefully, you’ll learn something new. Below (and above) you have Spc. Michael Moulton, a native of Juneau, Alaska, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 6th Brigade Engineer Battalion (Airborne), 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, pulling security while training with aviators from the Alaska Army National Guard at Neibhur Drop Zone.

In today’s Photo Of The Day, we have some photos of Norwegian Navy EODs, US Navy EODs Mobile Unit 8, and Danish Navy EODs training together with the Norwegian Army and Air Force during the Exercise Arctic Specialist. Above you can see some Heckler & Koch HK416s working together from an inflatable boat. Below there’s a heavy Machine Gun.

According to an announcement by the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense, the Lithuanian Armed Forces has ordered “optical devices” for their Heckler & Koch G36 rifles in a step to modernize their performance. The contract is worth around EUR 4 million and from the pictures, it looks like they have chosen the Meopta MedForce DF 1-4×22, made in the Czech Republic. There is no mention of the mount, but as you can see in the top picture, the mount is made by Spuhr. The riflescopes will be dedicated to the National Defence Volunteer Force that use the HK G36 rifles. 

Photo Of The Day: The Falkland Islands Defence Force is the Volunteer Military Unit first established in 1892. The Force is fully funded by the Falkland Islands Government and works closely with British Forces to provide defence and security to the Falkland Islands.

The first shot heard around the world from the 2022 firearms industry is the announcement of the commercial availability of the SIG Sauer NGSW MCX-SPEAR. The MCX-SPEAR is the rifle in the final stages of selection for the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon (NGSW) that will equip soldiers with new rifles, ammunition, optics, and suppressors. Prior to this announcement, SIG offered the MCX in both 5.56m and 300BLK in a AR-15 sized receiver.The SPEAR, initially offered in .277 FURY (6.8 x 51) is easily converted to both 7.62 NATO and 6.5 Creedmoor.

Photo Of The Day: If you want to hide a horse in the winter, Savotta from Finland may have a solution for you. For the Finnish independence day, they posted these images, which hopefully will put a smile on your face. Savotta have been manufacturing outdoors, hunting and tactical equipment since 1955. Can you identify the firearms in these pictures?

Rice & Shine! Welcome to TFB’s Photo Of The Day and Japanese jungle! Above we see a U.S. Air Force technician from the 18th Component Maintenance Squadron, guarding his fire team’s retreat during a break contact combat exercise. This was part of a multi-day training event in 2019, at the Jungle Warfare Training Center, Camp Gonsalves, Japan.

Before we talk about SMAR-100BPM in detail, we need to understand the circumstances that led to the creation of the modern Belarussian small arms industry.

Photo Of The Day: Last year this blog pumped out one POTD per day, with a few exceptions for public holidays. We intend to continue doing so in 2022, and as you most likely discovered, we already got started. Today we have pictures of Welsh Guards. For more information about the Welsh Guards and their upgraded firearms please check this story Welsh Guards Armoury Upgrade – Heckler & Koch SA80 A3. There are also excellent reference pictures of the SA80 A2 / L85A2 with ELCAN SpecterOS here.

In the previous article about the history of the AK-12, I talked about the “Ratnik” program and the earliest known prototype of the rifle. Now, it is time to talk about the second and third prototypes, which will be much easier, since I was personally involved in the trials and testing of those guns, as well as many demos and media events.

In the last 75 years, dozens of different Kalashnikov variants were developed all over the globe. At least 32 countries produced various AK rifles, hundreds of engineers tried to improve them. But, in all these years, not a single new variation of an AK has received as much attention from the media as the AK-12 assault rifle.

Each day a different image from the world of firearms. We call this POTD, short for Photo Of The Day, and it is our daily article series where we go to great lengths trying to find the most interesting pictures for you out there. Above you have a VSS Vintorez used by Special Forces of the Central Military District, at the Ironiya complex during an exercise near Novosibirsk (Russia).

In a move which the company described as ‘exciting’ the optics manufacturer EOTECH has acquired Intevac Inc’s Photonics business (Photonics), a “technology leader in cutting edge digital
sensor systems”. Photonics are perhaps best known for their involvement in the US Army’s IVAS programs.