Marcolmar makes semi-automatic, legal copies of the Czech Uk.59, and similar copies of the Soviet PKM General Purpose Machine Gun. So why not clone the two together and bring the resulting creation into the 21st Century, with polymer furniture, an updated design, and Picatinny rails? Meet the UKM, [Read More…]
The US Army’s new centralized procurement organization has been named: In his address at the Eisenhower Luncheon at the 2017 Association of the United States Army, US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley announced the creation of a Futures and Modernization [Read More…]
US Army, what on earth are you doing? The US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley promised that the new Next Generation Individual/Squad Weapon (NGSW/NGIW) program will give a “10 times improvement” in individual small arms capability “over any [Read More…]
While the majority of the defense industry is fixated on the adoption of the 7.62x51mm NATO MPT-76 select fire rifle by the Turkish Land Forces (which is still not complete in the least), or the more recent release of a 5.56x45mm version, MKEK has quietly been rolling [Read More…]
Recent images have emerged of the Pakistani Special Service Group (SSG), the countries Naval Special Operations component, with New Hampshire based Sig Sauer, Inc. 5.56x45mm NATO SIG 516PDW carbines with 7.5 inch barrels, along with Steiner DBAL I2 ATPIALs mounted [Read More…]
In the recent battle of Hawija, in northern Iraq, Iraqi security forces and Paramilitary forces lost two marksmen in the fight against the so-called Islamic State. Both of these snipers were very effective in the counter insurgency war that Iraq has been waging for [Read More…]
This guest post has been submitted to TFB on behalf of Marawan M, an Egyptian firearms designer currently working in Turkey for a civilian Turkish firearms company. Recently he visited the Istanbul Military Museum and wrote up a summary of his visit along with [Read More…]
Marcolmar is a small but very dedicated company in northern Indiana that produces semi-automatic beltfed versions of historically significant small arms from the Soviet era. Tackling a very difficult task such as taking the Czech Uk.59 GPMG and turning it into a legal, semi-automatic, ATF approved [Read More…]
US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley has released a letter outlining a major reform and restructuring effort for US Army weapons development, testing, and procurement. In the letter, CSA General Milley spoke of the need for a new procurement command structure: [Read More…]
This year at DSEi 2017 a number of countries had their lesser known and newly developed vehicle mounted Remote Control Weapon Stations (RCWS) on display for the defense industry exposition in London. Rather than list each entry individually, it is fitting that we [Read More…]
This summer Glock has emerged as the winner of not only one, but two very substantial contract victories to supply the Philippines National Police and the Armed Forces. The first contract was awarded in June of this year to supply the Filipino National Police Forces [Read More…]
Rheinmetall has introduced a new take on the ability to check ceramic or metal plates used in plate carriers and vests by Military/LE/Security forces across the world. The idea is to have an extremely lightweight system of electrical wires hooked up to a users plates. [Read More…]
Rheinmetall has introduced a new Laser Aiming Module (LAM) unit at DSEi 2017. The picatinny mounted LAM unit is extremely compact, measuring in at 83 mm in length, 63 mm in width and 34 mm in height, also weighing in at 155 grams. It runs off of a single 3V CR123 [Read More…]
A recent article in the Marine Corps Times highlighted Marine Corps Systems Command’s interest in the XM18, the compact version of the recently adopted XM17 that the U.S. Army will begin fielding en-masse in the oncoming months. Gunner Wade, known popularly [Read More…]
At a recent firearms amnesty in Australia, a Lewis Hythe Mk III Gun Camera was recently turned in, and appeared to be mistaken for an actual firearm. Although the Hythe MkIII does share the receiver, grip and drum magazine attachment point, it is very far from ever [Read More…]
According to a recent announcement by Mil Mag on the Polish defense magazine’s Facebook page, the semi-automatic version of the recently adopted (and recently renamed Grot) MSBS rifle by the Polish Land Forces (53,000 rifles for the Territorial Reserves) was [Read More…]
While at the DSEI defense exposition in London, the Ukrainian/British company showcased an update to their flagship rifle (introduced in October 2016), the .300 WSM bolt action STL-016. Mainly, the replacement of the wooden stock with a polymer Archangel OPFOR [Read More…]
Russian Ministry of Defence has launched a website dedicated to defense industry innovations. It must become a single platform for receiving new ideas and suggestions, analyzing them and introducing to the military. The official mission of this project is the [Read More…]
The Austrian fantastic plastic handgun Glock has won a contract to supply pistols to the Philippine Department of National Defense, which will supply the new handguns to the Philippine armed forces. The contract award is for the supply of 74,861 Glock 17 Gen 4 handguns, [Read More…]
Technology research and development company Battelle has announced the second generation of its DroneDefender anti-drone weapon. First released in 2015, the DroneDefender’s initial configuration appeared to be essentially a radio jamming apparatus attached to an [Read More…]
Fortunately night vision has come a very long way in terms of thermal and Infrared optics choices that today’s grunts have. However, once upon a time, 6 pound passive starlight PVS 2s were considered state of the art when it came to the capabilities of U.S. troops fighting at night. The scope [Read More…]
Gun accessory manufacturer Geissele has revealed its first ever production suppressor. The new can, called the “Super Night Owl”, was revealed at the Modern Day Marine 2017 industry demonstration. Soldier Systems Daily broke the story with a teaser post, and [Read More…]
Irfan Z. is a long time friend of TFB, and has contributed tips about various subjects, particularly within Southeast Asia. This is his first guest post entirely written by him, for TFB. Malaysia has just completed Independence Day 2017 celebrations and just like every [Read More…]
Alton C. is a guest writer for TFB and has contributed a number of articles in the past. The HK G3 is still soldiering in active service on more than fifty years after its introduction, but its ergonomics requires updating in the modern age. The long length-of- pull is [Read More…]
John S. is a guest writer who is concentrating on the subject of body armor. This is his second article on TFB, his first one being For simplicity sake, I’m not going to go too in depth as it can be rather confusing. This also isn’t a blanket guide, different [Read More…]
John S. is a guest writer who is concentrating on the subject of body armor. This is his first article on TFB. We get it, body armor is a complicated subject. There are many kinds of materials, with their own distinct advantages, disadvantages, and properties. Then [Read More…]
In yesterday’s article, we took a look at examples of two different methods of design, which I called “preference-driven” and “process-driven”. For these examples, I supposed two engineers from two different cultures – called [Read More…]
If you were designing the next small arms round, how would you do it? What methods would you use to determine its physical characteristics and performance attributes? How would you know what was too large or too small, too powerful or too weak? Perhaps more critically, [Read More…]
Defensa.com reports that the Peruvian Army has awarded FN Herstal a contract for SCAR-L rifles and grenade launchers. Peru have announced the purchase of a further 256 SCAR-L 5.56x45mm assault rifles and 24 40mm FN40GL under-barrel grenade launchers. These weapons are [Read More…]
A recent news report in Arabic has highlighted the efforts of opposition forces in Yemen to emplace IEDs within Kalashnikov magazines, just above the floor plates of the magazines themselves. The magazines have several rounds loaded, around 4-8 to be precise. The [Read More…]
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