The Indian Ministry of Defense has reissued an RFI for 44,000 5.56x45mm rifles due by July 15th, and to be completed by this August. We say “reissued” because this is actually based on a previous tender for a similar amount of rifles that has [Read More…]
Shepard Media has recently reported that the entire Latvian National Guard will soon be receiving a full fielding of 5.56x45mm NATO G36KVs infantry rifles and 7.62x51mm NATO KSP-58 medium machine guns (FN MAGs) from the Latvian National Armed Forces (NAF) to replace [Read More…]
The South African state-owned defense conglomerate Denel Land Systems has recently experienced a large rise in sales which have maxed out its production facilities, African defense website DefenceWeb reports. According to DefenceWeb’s article, most of the increase [Read More…]
According to a Military.com article, an element of 1st Battalion, 6th Marines will be deploying a 13-man squad of Infantry fully equipped with M27 IARs, suppressors, drum magazines, and other pieces of experimental gear. Called the “Über Squad”, it will be [Read More…]
The elusive Tokar-2 5.45mm belt-fed machine gun made an appearance at the recent Rosgvardia Open House event late last month. The event demonstrated weapons and equipment being used by the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia), and was open to the public. Russian media [Read More…]
The Georgian Ministry of Defense has released statements and even staged a demonstration wherein the land component of the Georgian Armed Forces will replace the 7.62x54R PKM medium machine guns with FN Herstal 7.62x51mm NATO M240Bs. This will be a gradual replacement [Read More…]
The “Izzy” Diplomatic Security Qualification (DS-Q) target is currently in active usage by a number of U.S. Government Law Enforcement entities but is primarily used by the U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service (shortened to DS for Diplomatic [Read More…]
In recent testimony to Congress, USMC leadership Lieutenant General Robert Walsh and Brigadier General Joseph Shrader officially acknowledged that the USMC’s M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, made by Heckler & Koch, encounters durability issues when used with the [Read More…]
Will the US Army adopt the Magpul Gen M3 PMag? Until recently, it seemed the answer was “no”. The Army had produced several magazine iterations replacing the legacy “black follower” design, culminating with the latest Enhance Performance Magazine [Read More…]
In our final installment of looking at the handmade wonders of the gunmaking village of Darra Adam Khel, we finish it off with an in-depth examination of the Krinkov patterned Kalashnikovs produced in the village. Some of them display an excellent resemblance to the original AKS74Us, however others [Read More…]
Is it possible to convert someone into an AK fanatic, or do you have to be born one? Can the comfort zone of aircraft-grade aluminum and nitro-injected ergonomics be overcome by the simple elegance and robustness of the Kalashnikov? This question is one I’ve [Read More…]
Having worn it before and knowing many who have lived because of it, body armor – specifically hard plates – have become indispensable life-saving tools for police and military. Designed specifically to defeat high velocity ballistic threats such as the AK [Read More…]
If and when the machine overlords decide to take over the planet, the Skyshield will likely be their air defense weapon of choice. The Skyshield, a modular and potentially mobile air defense system, has been developed by Switzerland’s Oerlikon Contraves Air [Read More…]
Daniel Shea, founder of the firearms research magazines Small Arms Review, Small Arms Defense Journal, and the training/supply company Pheonix Defense (formerly Long Mountain Outfitters) has become a recipient of the much respected Chinn Award, thereby honoring [Read More…]
In our third episode about the handmade small arms from the gunsmiths of Darra Adam Khel in the FATA region of northwestern Pakistan, Miles takes a look at some of the Kalashnikov variants produced by these talented craftsmen. With the Kalashnikovs some of the copying begins to show because of the [Read More…]
Speaking before the Senate Committee on Armed Forces, Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh indicated that the United States Marine Corps (USMC) is closing in on formally replacing the M855 round currently used in M16A4 and M4 rifles. The Corps will finish up testing on the M855A1 [Read More…]
Special Operations Command recently posted a solicitation on the government ran Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) resource in regards to a need for a domestic U.S. manufacturer to produce exact copies of the Soviet 7.62x54r mm PKM medium machine gun, and the [Read More…]
After over 30 years of using the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, it seems the US Army may be moving away from the concept of squad-level belt-fed automatic firepower in favor of a lower-capacity but more precise (and probably magazine-fed) weapon. In a recent Special [Read More…]
It is finally official: The SIG P320 will definitely be the US Army’s next service handgun. Soon after the January announcement of SIG Sauer’s win of the half-billion-dollar MHS contract, gunmaker Glock filed a protest on the decision with the Government [Read More…]
The US Army’s Program Manager for Individual Weapons has issued a new Request for Information (RFI) to the industry for a new 7.62x51mm Interim Combat Service Rifle, which seeks to bring out the best battle rifles the market has to offer. The RFI, posted at [Read More…]
In a rare break with rigid tradition and military bearing, a recent video series has been released in which Chief Warrant Officer 5 Wade discusses suppressor usage within the Marine infantry, in order to dispel some myths that troops might have when it comes to the practical application [Read More…]
With internet rumors and clandestine photographs trickling through the internet, firearms optic giant Aimpoint is ready to officially announce the existence of a T2 sized red dot that operates on a single AAA battery. Currently labeled with a numeric designation, [Read More…]
The war in Syria and Iraq has seen the development of a whole range of scratchbuilt and improvised weapons that are as ingenious as they are destructive. Recently, a kind of serially-produced rocket launcher has come to light as part of Da’ish (ISIS) propaganda, [Read More…]
Russian presenter Sergey Badyuk has partaken in a very informative discussion on Kalashnikov rifles in use by various Syrian groups within Assad controlled portions of Syria. He is a prior Russian serviceman himself and certainly knows his rifles. Now obviously, we can’t accept the information [Read More…]
In preparation for the 29th South East Asia (SEA) Games being held in Kuala Lumpur, Royal Malaysian Police held Exercise Rimau 2017, a public counter-terror exercise designed to prepare law enforcement for worst case scenarios that could take place during the SEA [Read More…]
Command Arms Accessories is currently showing a 10 part Facebook Live series narrated by Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Mikey Hartman, discussing Israeli Defense Force combat marksmanship programs, of which Hartman himself was professionally involved in throughout his [Read More…]
In the wake of Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley’s testimony to Congress on the present and future state of the US Army, there has been a significant amount of speculation and in some cases misleading reporting regarding his statements on small arms and [Read More…]
In recent testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Mark Milley, the Army Chief of Staff, admitted during questioning that the Army is looking at alternative rifle platforms to the current M4 Carbine. Milley’s comments were made primarily during a [Read More…]
In his testimony before Congress on Thursday, Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley put forth a concerning picture of the readiness of the United States Army: Soldier readiness is below half that of the Army’s goal, and tens of thousands of soldiers are [Read More…]
Earlier this month, TFB relayed a report first posted on Military.com’s KitUp! site about the 3 major non-Army services – Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force – all accepting the M17 as their next service handgun. However, thanks to the hard work of [Read More…]