#Misc

Elements of the Israeli Border Police, Yasam riot control unit and the Jereselum police force have been dealing with Palestinian protesters over the previous week in the vicinity of the Al Aqsa mosque over a dispute with security entrances that came about because of the murder of two Israeli police officers. Due to the size of crowds during the protests, numerous crowd control measures have been taken. Newsworthy to us at TFB is the usage of various 37mm stand alone launchers, in addition to a muzzle mounted rifle grenade cup, discharging a tear gas grenade via a blank 5.56x45mm round.

The Republic of Georgia’s state owned “State Military Scientific-Technical Center “Delta” has recently unveiled an entire line of body armor that was first fielded in 2016 by the Georgian Armed Forces in Afghanistan, and then later in the Central African Republic. Interestingly, a version of this armor was developed by a team of Georgian students working closely with SMSTC-Delta, but it is unclear whether or not the advancements from that experiment were utilized in this current iteration of the armor. The line of armor itself appeared to have come onto the market in 2014 but is only recently finding successful fielding among the Georgian Armed Forces. Unfortunately, the articles don’t mention specifications of this armor, other than it is up to NATO standards. It certainly incorporates a Kevlar insert, but the ballistic plate doesn’t appear to be steel, more likely it is along the lines of a U.S. Ceramic Level IV plate.

This image of a rigged 7.62x39mm AKM has recently been making the rounds on social media, one of the first being the Twitter account of KufriusMaximus, a pro-Kurdish commentator. From what the chatter is telling us, the photograph is of an AKM recovered in the currently contested city of Raqqa, the former capital of the so-called Islamic State. Troops finding it were elements of the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Force (SDF), Peshmerga troops supported by Operation Inherent Resolve special operations elements through the use of advising and forward air controllers.

FightLite has released the new version of their squad automatic weapon, the MCR (Mission Configurable
Rifle). The MCR is based upon the older ARES-16 AMG-2 ™ that has been on the Military/LE market for almost a decade and is an AR based solution to the M249 SAW. Numerous programs have been trying to replace it over the years, one of the most notable is the M27 program. With this version the company has improved various components of the operating system, essentially making the weapon much more durable when it comes to fully automatic fire capabilities. These include changing the feed roller housing to a square shaped design, configuring the feed tray to better accommodate the M855A1 round, changed the charging handle to become more robust, added a new compensator from the companies RipBrake design. Also added is a proprietary method of reducing the chances of cook-off in a closed bolt weapon system. We were able to get a hands on look of the older MCR at SHOT 2017 earlier this year.

FightLite has released the new version of their squad automatic weapon, the MCR (Mission Configurable
Rifle). The MCR is based upon the older ARES-16 AMG-2 ™ that has been on the Military/LE market for almost a decade and is an AR based solution to the M249 SAW. Numerous programs have been trying to replace it over the years, one of the most notable is the M27 program. With this version the company has improved various components of the operating system, essentially making the weapon much more durable when it comes to fully automatic fire capabilities. These include changing the feed roller housing to a square shaped design, configuring the feed tray to better accommodate the M855A1 round, changed the charging handle to become more robust, added a new compensator from the companies RipBrake design. Also added is a proprietary method of reducing the chances of cook-off in a closed bolt weapon system. We were able to get a hands on look of the older MCR at SHOT 2017 earlier this year.

FightLite has released the new version of their squad automatic weapon, the MCR (Mission Configurable
Rifle). The MCR is based upon the older ARES-16 AMG-2 ™ that has been on the Military/LE market for almost a decade and is an AR based solution to the M249 SAW. Numerous programs have been trying to replace it over the years, one of the most notable is the M27 program. With this version the company has improved various components of the operating system, essentially making the weapon much more durable when it comes to fully automatic fire capabilities. These include changing the feed roller housing to a square shaped design, configuring the feed tray to better accommodate the M855A1 round, changed the charging handle to become more robust, added a new compensator from the companies RipBrake design. Also added is a proprietary method of reducing the chances of cook-off in a closed bolt weapon system. We were able to get a hands on look of the older MCR at SHOT 2017 earlier this year.

In the development and testing phases since at least 2004, the German Ministry of Defense has purchased enough IdZ-ES (Infanterist der Zukunft-Infantryman of the future, also know as Gladius) Future Soldier Systems to outfit 68 platoons of mechanized infantry/2,460 soldiers, or roughly a reinforced regiment with the systems.The Gladius system is a wearable, integrated fighting system that allows individual soldiers greater opportunities on the battlefield to communicate, coordinate, and fight more efficiently. Unit leaders receive versions that allow better command and control via the ability to monitor friendly forces in real time. It runs off of a central battery pack mounted to the back of the load bearing equipment and is fitted around ballistic armor and even NBC requirements. Included with this suite are LAM devices and thermal optics for the G36 service rifle, in addition to a push to talk button mounted on the rifle itself so soldiers can stay on target or not give away their status of communicating to the enemy while on operations. UAV integration is also a key component, allowing commanders to view UAV feeds in real time. Central to the entire system is the ability to be “tethered” to the sectioned “home base” armored personnel carrier.

Several media outlets have reported that elements of the Ukranian Special Operations Forces are interested in procuring locally produced, Kiev based Zbroyar 7.62x51mm Z-10 rifles. The Z-10 is a locally manufactured AR10 derivative, spawning off a growing industry of Ukranian AR manufacturers in both 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm. We’ve covered the company’s 10.5″ SBR in a previous post, in addition to the rifles being suppressed and used by a possible Russian or even Ukranian PMC individual. Zbroyar is a private Ukranian company that has been in existence since 2004, focusing on a wide range of rifle applications. Currently, it appears that only some of the rifle components are being produced in-house, most likely the upper and lower receivers. Other than that, the rifles sport imported Magpul components, Adams Arms gas piston conversions, Daniel Defence rail systems, Hogue grips, and Tactical Systems suppressors from the Ukraine. Some photographs show the rifles with Nightforce scopes, Harris (or imitation) bipods, and interestingly enough, M-Lok machined forends.

Infantry Marines from Battalion Landing Team 3/5 aboard the 31st MEU are currently participating in Talisman Saber 2017, a joint U.S. and Australian training exercise working on the amphibious and warfighting capabilities of both forces. However, more than a standard bilateral training exercise, the “Dark Horse” Battalion is involved in a testing regime called SEA DRAGON 2025. The Marines are testing numerous technological advances in addition to the reliability of PMAGs in their live fire and patrolling. The PMAGs were approved earlier by a number of Marine Gunners, hoping to increase reliability and reduction of weight on the infantrymen. Specifically, with 3/5 it appears that only the Infantrymen are being issued a full combat load of PMAGs and not any of the supporting elements such as the Combat Engineers that are attached. The particular PMAGs in question are the Gen3s, which can actually fit in the M27 IAR’s magazine well, unlike earlier versions of PMAGs. This was one of the sticking points about the polymer magazines when the M27 was first introduced and why they were eventually banned within the infantry. DVIDS has a number of photographs that showcase this effort, and we pulled photographs from the website for this post.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office has posted an announcement on their Facebook page describing a sting operation in which they cooperated with ATF agents to purchase an unregistered SBR from a local trying to sell the rifle online. Peter Chirco, the owner of the rifle even knew that the rifle was under the legal 16-inch barrel length when he posted it online, in addition to even being barred from several local shooting ranges because the range staff realized the illegality of the rifle itself.From the Facebook post-

FightLite is introducing a polymer cartridge case to the market with their newest offering. This particular case is unique because unlike hybrid polymer ammunition with a brass base, these rounds are entirely polymer, apart from the primer, powder, and bullet. Although very forward thinking in design, many current polymer rounds suffer from reliability and heat issues that come into play during operation. This is especially important when it comes to machine guns, where the weight reduction from polymer ammunition truly shines, offering a claimed 30 percent decrease in weight as claimed by FightLite. The company is well aware of the various issues involved that have plagued other designs and has systematically tackled the problem to the best of their abilities.

At the Partner 2017 Military and Defense exposition held in Belgrade, Serbia this year, an emerging company from Bosnia and Herzegovina named TRB (recently privatized) had a recently introduced handgun called the RS 9. The RS 9 is a 9x19mm Parabellum semi-automatic, recoiled operated, magazine fed design produced in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to TRB, the design is based on the legacy Sig Saur P226 and appears to be aiming to replace the Zastava CZ-99 currently in use by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of the selling points the company reps made was that the RS 9 had a larger magazine capacity over the CZ-99’s 15 rounds, with 18 rounds total. The forend has a picatinny rail machined into it to accommodate various light attachments. So far it appears that the handgun is a Double Action/Single Action operation, with an external hammer and no de-cocker (unlike the Sig P226 it is based on). So far it also appears that the frame is aluminum with removable grip inserts, but without any further knowledge of the handgun, this is hard to confirm. The magazines have a polymer base plate curved and sloped to the front of the handgun, but have a similar curve, in the opposite direction, on the rear of the magazine baseplate. This is a feature very rarely seen, if at all among most handgun designs.

Marine Corps Systems Command has announced that it has awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to Trijicon Inc, for a total cost of $8,169,996. This contract specifies that the optics will be the Trijicon 4x32mm Rifle Combat Optic (RCO) with the TA31 Bullet Drop Compensator reticle graduated for the trajectory of the M855 round. The award specifies that 28,092 RCOs will be built and completed by September of 2018. This contract further cements the use of the rugged and reliable fixed magnified Trijicon RCOs within the Marines for a number of years to come.

A recent photograph has been posted on th e Kurdish forum Kurdistan Sky Scrapers depicting a Peshmerga fighter with a Beretta Defense Technology 5.56x45mm NATO ARX 160A2 with a 12 inch barrel instead of a standard 16 inch. The rifle sports factory sights, and has an Aimpoint CompM3 (or at least an imitation) mounted on the 12 o’clock picatinny rail. Attached to the rifle is a black two point sling. The Peshmerga fighter does not have the standard issue 30 round STANG magazine inserted, although supplies of such magazines should be close at hand due to the overwhelming use of M16A2s in the region, coming through Iraqi markets and official U.S. supply lines.

Earlier we reported on the Malaysian Counter-Terrorism Exercise Rimau that took place in a stadium and show-cased a number of Law Enforcement units rarely seen in the public sphere. Continuing the exercise with this post we have units that were present in the earlier exercise and thus receive a much more well-rounded view of their capabilities and small arms. It appears that blank firing adaptors weren’t utilized during these drills, so all of the scenarios were completed without a force on force component. All photographs are attributed to the Royal Malaysian Police Facebook page. Our faithful TFB reader Azril sent us this narrative-