#Europe

NATO member and ally the Republic of Estonia has released a tender with up to €75 million (roughly $86 million USD) for nearly 20,000 new rifles in both the 5.56mm and 7.62mm calibers, according to reports from IHS Janes’ and other outlets. The new contract is intended to supply both brigades of the Estonian Land Forces with new weapons, replacing their aging Ak4 (license-built Swedish G3s) and Galil rifles.

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.

In what appears to be LWRC cornering the Swedish special operations and SWAT issue rifle market, we have yet more evidence of LWRC’s piston operated IC-A5 rifles in usage by the Särskilda operationsgruppen (SOG, Military SOF), the Förstärkt Regional Insatsstyrka (Reinforced Regional Task Force), and though unconfirmed the Nationella insatsstyrkan (National Task Force). Earlier on TFB, we covered the use of LWRC rifles by SOG, a component of the military, in addition to H&K MP7s.

Priority 1 Air Rescue is a European and U.S. based training company that focuses on training military and civilian flight crews. While at SOFINS 2017 the company introduced their multi-configurable virtual reality gunner/hoist station. The station is essentially a cage that can be produced in different versions (up to 20 different helicopters) to simulate the interior feel of a chopper while a gunner is on their weapon station out the side fuselage. There is an actual (or demilled) machine gun system set up whether that be a M240, or an M134 Minigun connected to a sensor that allows the shooter to manipulate it and fire with their hands from the virtual reality headset. I assume these machine guns are using CO2 compressors or similar reality enhancing equipment to simulate recoil. Everything on the headset is recorded so that after action reviews can be made possible. It appears that different mission configurations can be uploaded to the headset and can be altered to fit whatever the commander or qualification course needs. The CEO mentioned that although the platform is intended for aerial rotary platforms, it can be modified for rigid inflatable boats, ground vehicles, and even C130s (most likely he means the AC130 Gunship).

RWS has introduced a new hunting cartridge – 10.3x68mm. It is a magnum cartridge with a belted case and 10.3 caliber projectile. This caliber (10.54mm (.415″) projectile diameter) has some popularity in Europe in the form of 10.3x60R Swiss cartridge. But the latter has some limitations to it. So in order to meet the demands of modern hunters with the desired caliber, RWS designed this new cartridge. The company markets it as a universal cartridge, which will do the job on a wide variety of game: from small game up to African buffalo.

Slovenian Youtube Channel and training company Polenar Tactical has finally released their “AK Operator Training” instruction series. The series is available shipped on DVD, USB, or can even be streamed on Vimeo when bought from the company’s website for 36 Euros (including tax). Polenar Tactical first began discussing producing such a series in 2012, and I was very much looking forward to the final product and even contributed towards their public Indie Gogo fundraising campaign. Since 2012 I practically forgot about the DVD, consigning myself to accepting that it wasn’t going to finish completion. But to my welcome surprise, after meeting the Polenar Tactical guys at SHOT 2017, I was overjoyed to hear that production of the DVD was finally out and it was shipping. I would very much like to get a copy of the DVD myself, and hopefully review it for our readers here.

Earlier on TFB we reported on the transition from MILES to DISE within EUCOM. However, it must be noted that the MILES system is still in use, even if sparingly. In fact, during Swift Response ’16, a multi-national airborne training operation, we have seen some of the most recent usages of the updated versions of the MILES gear. Most of the upgrades appear to be in weight reduction, with soldiers carrying less cumbersome and bulky versions of the personally worn vest. However there is another introduction that has the MILES Small Arms Transmitter taking advantage of the picatinny rail installed on most of the U.S. Army’s weapon systems. From a distance the Small Arms Transmitter could easily be mistaken for a black PEQ15 ATPIAL instead of the training device that it is. Since the 1980s MILES has gone through a number of manufacturers throughout its design phases, however most recently Cubic Global Defense is providing the latest iterations of the design, to include the picatinny mounted Small Arms Transmitter. From Cubic Global Defense-

Saw this on U.S. Army WTF moments on Facebook. The post says “The ultimate engineering test in Germany” The video clip is short. It shows a soldier pouring a beer and placing that beer on a special table mounted to the muzzle of the barrel. Then the tank is seen rolling at high speed and the barrel appears to be stabilized by the fact that it does not spill the beer.

Deep in the thicket of civilian gun free Europe, there lies an unconquered patch of ground that fiercely withstands the onslaught of the socialist powers that be, the reigning dark lords of the various EU governments. It is the personal collection of a gentleman by the name of Jacky Comhair and it is maintained to this day. He is located in Werm, and is quote well known throughout the gun community, even bringing the American ambassador on a tour of his collection. Although the small arms section of it (and they are mostly all working, no replicas or dewats here) is very extensive, the collection is also fabulous for its war memorabilia and vehicles but those are beyond the scope of this article. These photos were kindly forwarded to TFB by a very generous reader who is currently working for the DOD and was kind enough to arrange for this collector highlight. This is an excerpt of his experiences moving to Europe and dealing with the firearms laws there.

Italian firm BCM Europe Arms was exhibiting their Extreme rifle at the Italian gun expo EXA 2012 which finished earlier this week.

I like to celebrated Easter with some shooting or hunting. The folks in Upper Lusatia and southern Austria take Easter shooting to an entirely new level.

Chiappa Group is a corporation that includes Armi Sport, Kimar, Chiappa Firearms Ltd. and other companies in the firearms manufacturing world. The following information was compiled by the GunsForSale.com staff after interviewing members of the Chiappa Group at IWA 2011 in Nuremburg, Germany, and after touring the Chiappa factory in Azzano Mella, Italy.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is part of the tour of Europe the Guns For Sale team did earlier this year in conjunction with the IWA 2011 show. More behind-the-scenes footage from the CZ plant is available here: CZ.

NOTE: This post is part of the tour of Europe the Guns For Sale team did earlier this year in conjunction with the IWA 2011 show. More behind-the-scenes footage from the Fiocchi plant is available here: Fiocchi.

As regular readers of this blog know, TFB visited the IWA trade show in Germany earlier this year, as well as various factories in Europe: Beretta, Benelli, Fiocchi, Sig, CZ, Steyr, and Chiappa. As it turns out, we missed one very important factory: Ruger! Luckily, they’ve made their own factory tour video.