#Latvia

Today’s Photo Of The Day is a bit special.

Picture Of The Day – we got to the Republic of Latvia, located in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It’s a small country with only about 2 million inhabitants.

Catching the muzzle flash from a Machine Gun is always a welcome bonus as a photographer, and for today’s pictures, we have a few.

NATO recently shared a short video focused on Latvia’s Honour Guards. The video is part of NATO’s #WeAreNATO campaign that showcases units and roles in NATO member militaries, other recent videos have looked at a US combat photographer and a Portuguese jet pilot.

Shootmore Sweden tested the .308 Win product line of the Lithuanian ammunition manufacturer GGG at an outdoor shooting range.They had some challenges with mirage and wind, but you can find some conclusions in the pictures of the 5 shot groups below.

Latvia’s armed forces and border guards are set to receive new Heckler & Koch G36s. On the 11th January, the Latvian Ministry of Defence issued a press release announcing the new contract with the German small arms manufacturer. The 7 year contract, worth 13 million Euros or $16 million, is said to be for both rifles and other types of weapons – probably including H&K’s AG36 40mm grenade launcher, already in Latvian service.

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 former AK-4 rifles (Swedish licensed G3s) within the National Guard. The Latvian National Guard currently already has a mixture of AK-4s and G36KVs, but this new fielding will completely replace AK-4s and ensure that the entire Latvian military contingent has G36KVs and KSP-58s across the board. These rifles come equipped with Aimpoint optics of a similar version to the red dot M68 CCO, mounted on the 12 o’clock picatinny optic rail.

Kyle sent us this photo of a PPSh-41 with an interesting carved stock. He took this photo at the  Latvian War Museum in Riga, Latvia. The stock is carved with what looks to be angels, oak leaves and an eagle. There are words scratched into it. If any Latvians recognize the words and can translate them, let us know in the comments.