#Cyprus

A sunny trip to Cyprus is what’s on offer in today’s Photo Of The Day. We have soldiers from the RAF Regiment conducting Ground Extraction Force (GEF) exercises as part of an ongoing Joint Personnel Recovery which will continue as they return to the U.K. Whilst deployed, 1 Squadron Force Protection have continued to uphold their regular training, including maintaining their annual competency on the L129A1 Sharpshooter Rifle. The L129A1 is a semi-automatic high-precision designated marksmanship rifle.

Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah has reported that MKEK will be delivering 450 7.62x51mm NATO MPT76 services to Somalia, and another 2,500 have been ordered by the Turkish Republic of Norther Cyprus. Although the Somali order is quite small comparative to the size of the countries military, it would appear that these rifles are slated for either special operations use or possibly a section of the government responsible for head of state protection. However the Northern Cyprus order is quite different in that the security forces of TRNC number around 15,000, so the 2,500 rifles will most likely be arming infantry units that need replacing of their current G3 rifles. It must be noted that TRNC forces actually fall under the direct command of the Turkish armed forces, the current political situation on the island in regards to the north is very controversial and remains so to this day.

The defense forces of Cyprus will soon be turning in their H&K 7.62x51mm G3 rifles for 5.56x45mm X95s in a recent deal between the government of Cyprus and Israeli Military Industries. The X95 is already seeing limited issue, most recently at an annual independence day parade held on the first of October. In addition to the G3s currently in service, the National Guard (active component, including reserves, not the same as the U.S. National Guard), also has AK74s in service that these X95s will most likely be replacing as well. Not pictured, but mentioned in the article is an “Accuracy sniper rifle, which has an effective range of three kilometres”. This is most likely referring to Accuracy International, and in particular probably the .50 BMG AX50 precision rifle, due to the long range specified, and the lack of a current anti-material rifle in the Republic of Cyprus’s inventory.