UTS Defense, known for their commercial pump action 12 gauge shotguns in the United States has featured a promotional image on the Turkish website (not the U.S. one though) that shows a 5.56x45mm AR15 derivative titled the UT512 and a 9x19mm version titled UT9S. The [Read More…]
An Armenian social media personality who closely follows the Armenian Military side of the extremely contested eastern border with Azerbaijan recently posted a narrated video on his Facebook page of what appears to be a filmed engagement of Azeri troops in the disputed [Read More…]
al Masdar News has recently shared photographs of so-called Islamic State fighters using belt-fed 12.7x108mm W85 (Chinese derivative of the Soviet DShK) Heavy Machine Guns mounted on commercial motorcycles. The machine guns appear to be using a standard pintle [Read More…]
A new remotely controlled weapon system has recently emerged from Syria. The Sham R3 is the third variation of the original Sham series of remotely controlled weapons stations that use a 12.7x108mm DShK Heavy Machine Gun to engage targets from a stationary position. One [Read More…]
A recent promotional video released by the Chinese state television program CCTV highlights developments in the joint venture between North China Industries and Chongqing Jianshe Industry Group to bring to market a Chinese copy of the SCAR. The 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm [Read More…]
Taking drones down with so-called “soft measures” has so far been the fruit of most efforts to counter enemy UAVs. From using Picatinny rail mounted devices to interfere with signals to the enemy UAV, to using 40x53mm ammunition fired out of an automatic [Read More…]
In what some analysts are claiming as some of the most vicious urban combat in Southeast Asia since the end of hostilities in Vietnam, the Marawi campaign earned an infamous spot in Military and Filipino history. We covered the battle whenever major news breaks came [Read More…]
Michigan based Pratt & Miller Defense recently updated their Trackless Moving Targets- Infantry variant this year for I/ITSEC 2017. The company makes 4×4 vehicles (with targets mounted on them) that move autonomously on a training ground and react to fire. [Read More…]
Along with the recent defense deal that the United States is in with Ukraine over Javelin anti-tank missiles, is the news that the State Department just approved an export license for Barrett Firearms to sell M107A1s to Ukraine. The Ukranian military has had a constant [Read More…]
Government officials from the Pakistani province of Punjab Province (capital, Lahore) have recently announced through local television outlets and in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn that a small arms procurement program for the provincial law enforcement forces is [Read More…]
Broadsword Group, LLC, the owners of Sharps Rifle Company (makers of the Relia-Bolt and .25-45 Sharps upper receivers for the AR-15), has been ordered to pay nearly three quarters of a million dollars to one of its founding members, Michael H. Blank, by the US District [Read More…]
After 10 and a half years running TFB, I am finally retiring from blogging. It has been a wild ride. I started a tiny blog in 2007, on a whim because I was shooting or hunting almost everyday, then watching it grow into a team of 25 writers and become the most [Read More…]
The day many tactical optic enthusiasts have been whispering about over the past year is finally here: Nightforce has just announced their long-rumored 1-8 power tactical scope, called the NX8. Nighforce describes the NX8 1-8×24 F1 as “a class leading, [Read More…]
Photographs of Egyptian Security Forces armed with 7.62x39mm CZ 807s have recently surfaced, thanks to the efforts of Egypt Defense Review and Mahmoud Gamal, both in-depth analysts of Egyptian defense programs. The 7.62x39mm rifles were recently seen in what appears to [Read More…]
The ability to execute complex operations in conditions of low light or complete darkness has been an asset unique to NATO militaries since the 1990s when fighting against local insurgencies. Often within planning sessions for OIF, OEF, or the current Resolute Support [Read More…]
In what is certainly one of Magpul Industries largest contracts yet, Defense Logistics Agency has awarded the company a $12,792,000 definite quantity for GEN M3 PMAG magazines (mislabeled as magazine cartridges in the announcement wording). The contract specifically [Read More…]
The US Army’s new sidearm, the SIG Sauer M17 Modular Handgun System, will soon be available for purchase on the civilian market. SIG’s Chief Marketing Officer Tom Taylor told Military.com about the decision, saying that about 5,000 of the full size M17 [Read More…]
Those eagerly awaiting the market for the new .224 Valkyrie round have something to celebrate. Gunmaker JP Enterprises recently announced that they are now offering three different barrels for the new cartridge, in 20″ light, 20″ medium, and 22″ medium [Read More…]
The first holster to be issued with the US Army’s new Modular Handgun System, including both the M17 and M18 pistols, will be a variant of the Safariland 7TS holster, featuring both ALS and SLS locking systems. The holster is the first of at least three holsters [Read More…]
Recent evidence has suggested that there is an uptick of mounting evidence to suggest that rebels in the Jammu and Kashmir province of Northeastern India are slowly trading their traditionally used 7.62x39mm Kalashnikov patterned derivatives for 5.56x45mm M4 [Read More…]
Marine Systems Command is currently testing and looking to put out a solicitation for a next-generation “Miles-like” system that will replace current training simulators that allow Infantry Marines to train more realistically by being able to engage each [Read More…]
A Twitter user has recently posted a video apparently showing members of the Syrian rebel group Tahrir al-Sham firing a Chinese W85 copy of the Soviet 12.7x108mm DShK heavy machine gun from a short mount that is somehow clamped to the back seat of a common motorcycle. The video only lasts a few [Read More…]
The US Army has announced a decision to field the M17 MHS as a sidearm to more soldiers than were previously issued M9 handguns. Where previously only senior leadership were authorized to carry handguns, with the new M17 and M18 Modular Handgun System squad and team [Read More…]
At a recent Independence Day parade held in the capital of Turkmenistan, a Chinese Norinco NSG-127 12.7x108mm anti-material rifle was spotted being carried in the procession of Turkmen troops. In multiple clips we see the rifle being held by Turkmen soldiers while [Read More…]
Select-fire 5.56x45mm NATO Beretta ARX-160 rifles have been adopted en masse by the Turkmen armed forces, most recently seen in the media through the 26th anniversary of the country’s Independence Day parade held in the capital of Ashgabat. Replacing previous AKM [Read More…]
The bloody battle for the Syrian city of Raqqa has been since been won by the Kurdish Peshmerga with U.S. support. But while it was raging, we wrote about the Polish volunteer fighting with the Peshmerga with a public name and Facebook book title of Archer. After [Read More…]
A TFB reader sent us these photographs of a craft produced 7.62x25mm Tokarev submachine gun from Pakistan. The submachine gun is a select fire, blowback operated, Kalashnikov based derivative most likely originating from the gun making village of Darra Adam Khel from [Read More…]
Rest in Peace Interim Combat Service Rifle, we hardly knew thee. The Army’s ICSR program has joined the much more ambitious Advanced Combat Rifle program of the 1980s and the more recent ill-fated Individual Carbine program in the annals of US Army rifle [Read More…]
The US Army’s embattled CSASS program has moved forward slightly with a sources sought notice posted to the Fed Biz Opps website, seeking manufacturers who can make many of the accessories that equip the M110A1 rifle. The notice isn’t itself for a contract, [Read More…]
Texas company True Velocity, LLC, has released the first images of their advanced lightweight polymer composite cased ammunition design via Instagram. Training company BAT Defense sent out an image of what appear to be 12.7×108, .50 BMG, and 5.56mm rounds made by [Read More…]