#Anti-material

Christmas is always a wonderful time for giving back, spending time with loved ones, and thinking way too much about what you’d REALLY like from Santa. This year I decided it was time to dream just a little bit bigger. How big? We’re talking a .50 BMG  GM6 Lynx big.

For the last five years, ARMY-2019 have been the biggest military weapons exhibition in Eastern Europe. Unlike many other military shows that occur every two years, “Army” is an annual exhibition, so Russian firearms manufacturers have to come up with something new and “groundbreaking” every single year. Anyone who is familiar with how the firearms industry works understands that it is impossible, that is why small arms-related news from “Army” are usually quite dull. But this year there were a few things worth writing about, first one being the SV-18 anti-materiel rifle.

Recent media shared on a pro-Azeri Armed Forces group called Polygon Azerbaijan has provided details on an anti-material rifle that has been in development by the Azeri Ministry of Defense Industry since at least 2009. In 2009 the Azerbaijan Minister of Defense Industry Yaver Jamalov was quoted as saying his country was going to produce not only a 23x115mm anti-material rifle but also a 30mm version as well by the years of 2010-2011, based on the previous 14.5mm Istiglal anti-material rifle design. However, there doesn’t appear to be a rifle that the government could produce, until 2012 when the same minister mentioned production would begin in 2013. Again, we have another news article this month where the same minister is now saying the production will be in coordination with Turkey on a 23mm rifle. That article hinted at a Turkish entity, Aselsan being involved, which makes sense because Aselsan is already engaged in international production with Kazakstan.

Although new to the English language defense industry due to ADEX 2017, S&T Motiv’s entry into the anti-material rifle market was first publicly unveiled in September of this year via a post on the popular Korean defense industry blog Bemil.chosun.com. The anti-material rifle is a bolt action, single shot rifle chambered in 12.7x99mm (.50 BMG), weighing 12-14 kilograms (unloaded versus loaded with optics). Currently it appears that there is no magazine incorporated into the design and it is a single shot weapon, with it being necessary to manually load rounds into the chamber or feed way. It has a picatinny rail for optics that appears to be around 13 inches in length, the extra rail space for the mounting of thermal or infrared clamp on optics. The buttstock swivels to the left and appears to be held captive by a plunger or pin on the right side of the rifle. The barrel is fluted, and the muzzle brake contours to the general outline of the barrel itself. This barrel appears to be free floated or at least semi free floated.

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is procuring two long range rifles from US manufacturer Barrett Firearms Manufacturing. The island armed forces will be purchasing the .50 BMG caliber M107A1 anti materiel rifle as well as the .338 Lapua Magnum caliber Multi Role Adaptive Design (MRAD) sniper rifle. The rifle buy is for forty M107A1 anti material rifles, forty two MRAD sniper rifles, and optics, suppressors, accessories, packaging, and all other ancillary equipment as part of a “total system” purchase. The weapons are a part of the New Zealand Defence Force’s modernization effort, which has included new handguns, infantry rifles, machine guns, and other weapons. According to NZDF material released along with the announcement, the MRAD sniper rifles will be replacing the NZDF’s legacy Accuracy International Arctic Warfare rifles in 7.62mm NATO caliber, bringing a considerable increase in range and capability to New Zealand snipers. As well, M107A1 .50 caliber anti materiel rifles will give the NZDF the ability to attack vehicles and installations out to 1,500m. Both weapons are reportedly slated for use not only by the New Zealand Army, but the New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS), as well. Procurement of the weapons under a sole source contract followed six weeks of testing of several competing rifles in Waiouru, where more than 10,000 rounds were expended in evaluation.

The editor says: This article was contributed by our friend Vitaly who runs Rem870.com, a blog and forum dedicated to the Remington 870. 

I am not sure what is going on here. Probably a pair of soldiers goofing around and testing their limitations with this ridiculously long rifle. Any ideas what rifle this is?

So, how would you like to wake up and find that your surplussed corporate truck had been bought by foreign militants and converted into a technical?

Why don’t we have more commercials like this? It has EVERYTHING. A soothing South African voice explaining the features of the rifle. Everything sounds better coming from a British accent, or Morgan Freeman. Then there is the sweet 80’s era rock music. I find it energetic and gets me pumped up watching this video.

Yesterday I posted a photo of Jordanian Special Forces with truck-mounted Barrett anti-material rifles and in the comments a reader shared this photo of the The Long Range Desert Group operating a .55 caliber Boys Anti-Tank rifle mounted on a truck.