The Technical Directorate for Military Production (TDMP) is a defense armaments manufacturing arm set up within the Popular Mobilization Forces (الحشد الشعبي) that were established in Iraq during 2014 to combat the growing threat of the so-called Islamic [Read More…]
Program Executive Officer (PEO) Soldier out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia recently tweeted an image depicting U.S. Army Brigadier General Anthony Potts (currently commanding PEO Soldier) on the test range firing a test rifle apart of “emerging technologies for Next [Read More…]
The C96 ‘Broomhandle’ Mauser is certainly one of the most iconic self-loading handguns of the First World War. Osprey Publications has recently published a title about the C96, written by Jonathan Ferguson, Curator of Firearms at the Royal Armouries Museum [Read More…]
This is Marawan M.’s second guest post for TFB. His first guest post is about the Istanbul Military Museum: Small Arms of the Ottoman Empire if readers are interested in reading more from him. In addition, we previously reported on the Sham R-3, but as promised [Read More…]
This is Marawan Maklad’s third guest post for TFB. His first guest post is about the Istanbul Military Museum: Small Arms of the Ottoman Empire. The Palestinian Hamas movement and its military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza surprised many observers [Read More…]
In a recent propaganda video released by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Report Number 190 to be precise), a 7.62x51mm NATO MK 17 SCAR was spotted over the course of the propaganda video. Of course, there is nothing new about this development, we’ve covered [Read More…]
At this year’s Singapore Air Show, S&T Kinetics showed off their latest bullpup rifle, the 5.56x45mm NATO BR18. The BR18 is the latest version of what began as the BMCR, or Bullpup Multirole Combat Rifle which initially debuted at the 2014 Singapore Air Show. [Read More…]
A recently released Marine Corps Times article covers a discussion with a MARSOC spokesman who confirmed in no uncertain terms that the command was not interested in an M27 IAR procurement program. The reasons stated involved the Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures [Read More…]
The Surefire MAG5-60 and MAG5-100 magazines were initially released in 2010 and received much interest from all over the shooting community. However, insofar as actually being used by operating forces, it appears that their adoption has been somewhat limited. There is [Read More…]
We previously covered the Marine Corps M27 in last weeks episode and will be really getting into the weeds here in terms of some of the issues and benefits the weapon system afforded to Infantry Marines. Topics such as the choice of magazines for the automatic rifle, why it was so accurate and [Read More…]
A recently published news video from Arizona-based 3TV/Arizona Family Channel concerning domestic violence in the U.S. Army included a photograph of a U.S. Soldier from the 7th Special Forces Group based out of Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The soldier is posing with [Read More…]
The Fiscal Year 2019 Department of Defense Budget Proposal has been submitted to Congress and will take some time before we find out if it is approved or denied. But within it there is a specific budget document titled “Counter-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [Read More…]
We recently wrote about Enhanced Tactical Arms with their new grip design at SHOT 2018. But during the show, we were able to get a behind the scenes look at the small companies efforts to replicate the developmental history of the M4 carbine from the early beginnings [Read More…]
The Israeli Dror Light Machine Gun was born during a time of necessity. What would later become the state of Israel was fighting off numerous enemies all around it and needed every weapon system possible. Through this endeavor, a sympathetic employer who formerly worked at Johnson Automatics helped [Read More…]
Japan was perhaps the least prepared of all the powers during the Second World War to have an issued submachine gun in use by combat troops. Indeed the Japanese Type 100 only saw a production run of at maximum 30,000 weapons. A small fraction of the total amount of the Japanese Imperial Forces [Read More…]
The AMELI light machine gun was Spain’s answer to what the Ministry of Defense needed in a squad automatic weapon, as a base of fire for the Spanish Infantry fire team. It was based on the late war German MG45 design, or as we see here, possibly just another version of the Mauser-CETME Light [Read More…]
Along with our visit to Battlefield Las Vegas where we were able to fire ZMT’s UKM 2000 general purpose machine gun, TFB was also able to get close and personal with the companies anti-material rifle entry. The Tor is a .50 BMG manually operated, magazine fed [Read More…]
The IWI 40x46mm Low-Velocity UBGL/Standalone Grenade Launcher has been around for a few years but this is the first time we were able to actually get our hands on the launcher at TFB. Available for LE/Military customers worldwide, the launcher is designed to lock onto [Read More…]
A few years ago I went to the Vehicle and Darkness D3 course with Haley Strategic. At this course, students learn how to fine-tune fundamentals while manipulating lights and shooting in and around vehicles. A vehicle ballistics lab was also very informative. After the [Read More…]
South African Truvelo had their CMS rifles on display at the Pheonix Defense booth. We’ve covered the extremely short barrel (15 inches) 20x42mm and the single shot 20x110mm anti-material rifle from Truvelo, but this is an opportunity to look at the [Read More…]
In today’s episode, we follow Miles to Shot Show 2018 and check out the Velocity Systems booth. The Scarab DLX is a new offering for Velocity Systems that offers laser cut molle with triangles to give the greatest strength and easiest attachment of mission essential equipment. The shoulder pads [Read More…]
Cadex Defense had two recently introduced products specifically for the .50 BMG M2 Heavy Machine Gun on display at their booth at SHOT 2018. The first one was their KOLOS sight mount, meant as a lighter and less obtrusive alternative to the earlier SOLO sight mount. [Read More…]
Profense LLC is a defense company that has its origins in the aerospace industry. Their primary interest is trying to introduce a next-generation 7.62x51mm NATO M134 Minigun. The company is doing this through two different strategies. First, they are actually manufacturing their own version of the [Read More…]
In today’s episode, we follow Miles to Shot Show 2018 Media Day at the Range and visit Caracal USA. Caracal brings the enhanced F 9mm pistol with standard sights or the quick sight system, allowing for faster follow up shots. Boasting 18+1 capacity the enhanced F could also be purchased with night [Read More…]
Ops-Core is releasing a new line of Fast Helmets in both ballistic and carbon fiber. The ballistic version will first be released with an MSRP of $1700 and weighs lighter than its predecessor. A sales rep at the Ops-Core booth said the SF was 6% lighter when compared to [Read More…]
A long-awaited update on the much-delayed Compact Semiautomatic Sniper System program came with the recent Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing that was conducted Wednesday. In his testimony, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8 Lieutenant General John M. Murray told [Read More…]
Despite the suggestion being raised more than once in Congress, the United States Army will not be buying M27 Infantry Automatic Rifles from Heckler & Koch, but instead is devoting its small arms resources towards the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program, [Read More…]
Accurate Mag is a Connecticut-based precision rifle parts manufacturer that just recently introduced a new line of rifles, their Advanced Modular Sniper Rifle. Before we get into the new rifle, it must be mentioned this company is actually an OEM manufacturer of the [Read More…]
So far the only U.S. civilian legal semi-automatic version of the venerable M249 Squad Automatic Weapon was from the same company that makes the actual machine gun, FN Herstal. However, we recently learned about another semi-automatic M249, from Utah based Machine Gun [Read More…]
Kinetic Development Group, known for working on SCAR accessory upgrades, is introducing an RMR mount for their product family of SIDELOK optics mounts. The SIDELOK sets itself apart from other mounts in its class by having the ability to be pressed on and off a [Read More…]