#Misc

At the Security & Counter Terror Expo outside of London EFAFLEX introduced their EFAPROTECT Ballistic shutter. The shutter is a sort of garage door opener that rolls up into a box above an entrance and deploys extremely quickly to shield an entrance from various small arms threats up to 7.62x51mm NATO. The dimensions appear to be that of an oversized door, allowing the device to be fitted into existing entryways with various modifications. How the device is controlled was not mentioned but it most likely has a remote control station where it can be operated, in addition to possibly a manual override at the physical doorway (most likely on the inside of the entry). I’d imagine that the device comes with significant safety precautions and warnings because being caught in it might end up in a bad way.

Marine Corps Systems Command has finally pushed .50 Caliber M2A1 Browning Heavy Machine Guns out to the Fleet and to Training Command throughout the Marine Corps. 3,600 M2A1s are within this fielding, primarily going to Infantry battalions in the Fleet and Reserves, Training Command, and “Infantry-like units”. Currently, SysCom is in the second phase of fielding, having already completed phase one, and then pushing out the third phase by FY18. We reported earlier on a new contract with General Dynamics and U.S. Ordnance to produce new M2A1s. This recent fielding might be SysCom taking part in that contract, or it might be something completely different.

Recent photographic evidence has shown that Assad’s Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is equipped with DNS-1 Day & Night Vision Sights from the Belarusian company “Belarusian Optical & Mechanical Association”. These optics have been seen mounted on both AK74Ms and PKMs using a Picatinny rail on a standard Kalashnikov optic mounting platform in use on many Soviet small arms designs. Although these optics haven’t been seen in large quantities, their presence in two photographs signifies at least a small order of such DNS-1 optics. The DNS-1 appears to have an infrared capability in addition to a standard daytime usage mode, very similar to the U.S. Army’s discontinued Day/Night AN/PVS-10 of the 1990s and early OIF/OEF eras. Although these sights were cutting edge technology when they were introduced, today they tend to be overweight compared to numerous other equivalent optics available. For the Syrian Army, these optics would be a tremendous advantage over the rebels they are fighting, especially during periods of low light.

Recently we’ve been looking at a number of high-profile developments that came out of Special Operations Executive. Namely the infamous Welrod and Welwyn suppressed devices, and the Norm and Welgun experimental submachine guns. In this video, we take a look at some of the much lesser-known developments of the spy organization during the Second World War. A fully automatic .22 LR Colt Woodsman that had an excessive rate of fire, a hip mounted handgun that was designed to be shot while the user had their hands in the air, some fascinating cover stories that allowed the gunmaker John Wilkes Brothers to modify and repair small arms for SOE, and finally a highly modified and integrally suppressed M1 Carbine. Some of these small arms armed the agents parachuting into Fortress Europe and across lands captured by Imperial Japan, while others barely left the drawing board and served more as experiments of curiosity. However, all of these weapons were indicative of a time when the Allies were willing to throw any amount of effort at even a half-baked idea that would get Hitler or Tojo to surrender their empires quicker.

Recent photographs out of the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib show a thorough manufacture of improvised anti-material rifles, all in 14.5mm. Local gunsmiths in the rebel-held city appear to be using the discarded barrels of 14.5mm KPV heavy machine guns, of an unknown country origin (most likely Russian) to fashion both bolt action and what appears to be two variants of a self-loading gas operated rifle. Some of these rifles even have very well applied digital camouflage schemes for the conditions that they are manufactured in. All variants are magazine-fed from either underneath the receiver or in one case as a side loading mechanism. All have Picatinny rails fashioned to the receivers of which variable power scopes are affixed. At least one of the scopes is a Steiner, while others have a “B” logo embossed on the front of the objective lens cap. It could possibly be Bushnell but the logos don’t match. It could also be an airgun scope that those would be much easier to acquire not only in the MENA region but anywhere else. Barring any evidence to prove otherwise, all the anti-material rifles look to be manufactured by the same entity and also look to be in different stages of experimentation and testing. One of the self-loading rifles looks rather crude, and due to the presence of more bolt action systems, it appears that testing was done with the self-loading rifles but found to not be satisfactory so the entity went with a “production” run of the bolt actions which were much easier to produce reliably.

Suarez International out of Arizona has released their latest Glock 17 slide, the V5. This slide improves upon previous Version of slides from the company and can be ordered with different optic cut outs. However, the base slide is meant for iron sights to be installed, which can be your factory Glock sights, or after-market versions. Some of the modifications made to the slide are mostly to do with tighter tolerances, using quality 17-4 aerospace steel in a Black Melonite finish, and custom cuts to the ejection port area that allows for better ejection processes. Essentially the slide is meant to be a match grade, out of the box ready modification to a standard Glock 17 that shooters can purchase.

Soldier Systems Daily first reported on the Aimpoint M5 powered by AAA batteries almost a year ago. Oddly enough, it was spotted by an avid reader of SSD that noticed an optic being shown at a Diplomatic Security Service information seminar in Washington D.C.

Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, or Polish Armaments Group is the holding company of 60 Polish armaments companies (one of which is Fabryka Broni, producing the MSBS). Recently an announcement was made on Polish defense news service Defense24 that PGZ will be bringing a suite of 40x46mm grenade launchers to market, specifically aimed at adoption by Polish armed forces and law enforcement entities. Produced by a collaboration of PGZ owned Dezamet and ZM Tarnów, these are the SBAO-40 suite of GPBO-40 UBGL and it’s modified variant, the GSBO-40 stand alone launcher. These launchers are very similar in concept to H&K’s 320 which can be ordered as a UBGL or a stand alone as well. Also similar is the short barrel length, left side opening breech to accommodate longer grenades, and a user-friendly pistol grip. The UBGL is designed to be coupled with the 5.56x45mm NATO Beryl assault rifle currently in use by Polish forces. If the MSBS rifle completely takes over, there will most likely be a picatinny attachment that allows the GPBO-40 to mount to the underside of the MSBS.

According to a report by Mönch Publishing Group, French Special Operations units and Danish Armed Forces are currently testing Knight’s Armament Corporation’s Stoner 5.56x45mm NATO LMG. Specifically the French Commandement des Forces Speciales Terre, and even more specifically the 1 Regiment de Parachutistes d’Infanterie de Marine will be conducting extensive tests of the XLMG to replace current FN Herstal M249 legacy systems in their inventories. There is little information dealing with what Danish unit will be conducting trials or is considering an LMG replacement.

The Indian Army has released an RFI that is requesting interested companies to submit a proposal for 1500 Anti-Material Rifles (AMR as per Indian Army). The rifles must be in a 12.7mm caliber (x108mm or .50 BMG wasn’t specified) and must weigh lighter than the Army’s current Denel NTW-20 in 20mm/14.5mm. They must be capable of accurately engaging targets out to 1800 meters using “armour piercing incendiary, tracer rounds, sabot light armor penetrator, armor piercing explosive incendiary and high explosive armor piercing incendiary ammunition. In addition, the rifles cannot weigh more than 15 kilograms (33 lb) for a combined weight (we assume this is fully loaded).

The State Department and Department of Defense have announced a planned sale of almost $300 million of defense materials through the Republic of Iraq to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Peshmerga. The article specifically states that the deal is to equip two infantry battalions and two supporting artillery battalions of Peshmerga troops. Although this isn’t a U.S. Army T/O complete Brigade Combat Team (Or U.S. Marine equivalent Battalion Landing Team), the equipment numbers marry up perfectly with similar amounts in the U.S. Army, practically stripping this Peshmerga unit of anything other than Infantry and supporting artillery assets. Case in point is the amount of Colt M16A4s (Colt mentioned as being one of the suppliers) being ordered with a number of 4,400 rifles. A T/O complete U.S. Army Brigade Combat Team has an authorized strength of 4,413 soldiers, essentially on the dot of what the Peshmerga one will be. In addition the M16A4s, the planned order also specifies 46 .50 BMG M2s, and 186 M240B medium machine guns as far as small arms are concerned. I’m sure there are handgun allotments, possibly Glock 19s thrown in but too insignificant to be mentioned in the article. Of course, a number of armored vehicles and 105mm howitzers are within the bounds of the sale as well.

Recent news reports have revealed that an arms cache in use by the Muslim Brotherhood was recently uncovered by Egyptian Security Forces in the vicinity of Alexandria. A number of small arms and explosive devices were uncovered, several of which will be noted below due to their peculiarity. However one of the more important finds to Egyptian authorities is the presence of Iranian-made grenades and anti-personal mines. Finding this evidence is hardly surprising due to Iran’s policies of trying to undermine potential enemies by supporting minority groups in such places as Lebanon and Palestine, to include a number of countries in Africa. The article on the topic also specifically mentions the recent video released by the so-called Islamic State that we covered earlier, on taking shots at Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai. In addition, it mentions the Iranian anti-material rifle that is a copy of the HS .50 made by Steyer, labeling it as the “إم 50” or AM50 in English. This rifle was observed to be used by so-called Islamic State sharpshooters in the aforementioned video.

The mostly Kurdish composed Syrian Democratic Forces were recently pictured in combat against the so-called Islamic State with a modified Zastava M93 Black Arrow anti-material rifle. The M93 is chambered in either .50 BMG or the Russian 12.7x108mm cartridge. The M93s in use by not only the SDF but also elements of the Kurdish Peshmerga are most likely in 12.7x108mm due to the ample supply of Russian ammunition in the area of operations. Kurdish forces have been known to have been using M93s for some time now

The Iranian Ground Forces introduced a new .50 caliber self-loading rifle named the Heidar. The Heidar is a .50 caliber five round magazine side-fed, gas operated anti-material rifle with an effective range of 1,600 meters, maximum effective of 2,000 meters, and maximum range of 3,000 meters. It weighs almost 40 pounds loaded and is 53 inches in length. The gas system looks to be direct impingement is mounted on the right side of the rifle. It also sports a massive muzzle brake. Interestingly it utilizes an MG42 inspired pistol grip as well. The magazine is fed from the left side of the rifle but far enough forward that it isn’t quite a bullpup design. Stock is adjustable for length of pull and it has a non-adjustable monopod on the bottom. The rifle sports a picatinny rail at the 12 o’clock position for the mounting of various optics. There isn’t anything specified on whether or not the caliber is .50 BMG or 12.7x108mm but I assume it is the Russian cartridge due to wide Iranian usage of the 12.7x108mm. The rifles name Heidar bears similarity to the Iranian Ground Forces Commander, Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari, with only the Farsi “i” missing from the end. It could be named after the General, or it could be a coincidence.

Turkish defense technological company Aselsan will demonstrate a product originally introduced in January of this year (not covered on TFB yet) at IDEF 2017 in Turkey (late May). The Van Kedisi dual thermal/IR sight is similar in size to products that FLIR usually puts out. What is interesting about this optic is that it has that duality of both thermal heat imaging and infared capabilities by utilizing two objective lenses and a single ocular lens. There appear to be two versions, a handheld variant, and a dedicated picatinny mounted version. As of yet it looks like Aselsan hasn’t received a contract for it but certainly will be pushing for one. A division of the company that produces scopes in Kazakhstan was previously released and was adopted by the Turkish Armed Forces in the Python. It might have been mentioned in the Turkish accounts of the sight but I can’t fully translate it, that the sight might be made in Kazakhstan as well. If this is the case then that could drive the price of the sight down, much more than if it had been made in Turkey. It looks like it also has a connection port to it that can be connected to a heads up display or this might just be a data download link.