#NATO

Top of the morning and welcome to our Photo Of The Day! TFB recently wrote about the New CZ BREN 2 Ms – NATO Limited Edition, an article that got quite a lot of attention. But there was one photo that wasn’t included for some reason, and it’s the one above with the BREN 2 Ms on top of the NATO and Czech Republic combination flag.

Strike Industries continues to surprise me with the ever-broadening spectrum of products it continues to offer. This time they’ve got something both fun and practical – NATO Dummy Rounds. A practical solution for dry fire practice, safety education, or even as a unique keychain accessory. These dummy rounds provide a subtle yet effective reminder of the major calibers favored by NATO forces.

In this episode of TFBTV Show Time, James Reeves visits the Arex booth to learn about their new maritime-oriented and extremely well-featured Arex Delta pistols made to fulfill a contract from an unnamed NATO partner. These handsome pistols are duty guns that are basically one step away from competition pistols while also being optimized for maritime operations. Make sure to subscribe to TFBTV Show Time for content from the Enforce Tac and IWA 2024 Shows.

Photo Of The Day: Photojournalism is the process of storytelling using the medium of photography as your main storytelling device. While a journalist will use their pen and paper to tell stories, a photojournalist will use their camera to capture the visual representation of a story. Today we get to share a day with NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group Poland during Thunder Strike 2022 exercise.

It was really hard to select a featured picture for today’s Photo Of The Day since they’re all amazing examples of NATO snipers. The variety of equipment, firearms, lasers, mounts and optics is pretty huge, but what’s really interesting to see is army snipers picking up the “craftmanship” used by Precision Rifle Series shooters and in competitions. I guess it works!

Thirty-five years after it was invented, the 5.7x28mm caliber is now standardized by NATO. The new standardization comes after the 5.56x45mm and 7.62x51mm calibers, which were both designed by FN Herstal, and standardized by NATO in 1957 and 1981 respectively. Two other NATO calibers are the 9x19mm NATO and the 12.7x99mm NATO. The main use for the 5.7x28mm is for handguns and Personal Defense Weapons (PDW) like the FN P90.

The FN F2000 is the standard issue rifle for the Slovenian Armed Forces. In case you think you see it rarely it’s because FN Herstal has stopped the production. It was probably released a few hundred years too early, don’t you think?

Today’s Photo of the Day sees US troops stationed in Poland get to grips with some British small arms. Men from two cavalry regiments – one British, one American, took part in a familiarisation exercise at Bemowo Piskie, in Poland, on 30th April 2020. The two units are part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence that consists of four battalion-sized battle groups deploying on a persistent rotational basis to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to demonstrate the alliance’s determination and ability to act as one in response to any aggression against its members.

Feeling bored? Nothing to do? Each day you are welcome to TFB’s selection of photo highlights. If you’re lucky you may learn something on the way, otherwise just browse today’s photos from Poland.

Catching the muzzle flash from a Machine Gun is always a welcome bonus as a photographer, and for today’s pictures, we have a few.

On the 20th February, FN Herstal was awarded a ‘major contract’ for rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers by NATO’s Support & Procurement Agency (NSPA) on behalf of the Portuguese Army. The contract is said to be for “5.56mm and 7.62mm NATO caliber FN SCAR assault rifles, FN40GL grenade launchers, MINIMI 5.56 and 7.62 Mk3 light machine guns.”

NATO’s “Powered Rail Team”, consisting of 11 nations working on the common goal of bringing forward a STANAG (NATO standardization document) for a Powered Accessory Rail for small firearms, is starting to pay off.

NATO recently shared a short video focused on Latvia’s Honour Guards. The video is part of NATO’s #WeAreNATO campaign that showcases units and roles in NATO member militaries, other recent videos have looked at a US combat photographer and a Portuguese jet pilot.

Unless you have some interest and skill in mathematics, shooting high or low-angle precision rifle is going to be even more difficult. Just imagine all the countless variables, and then adding to the difficulty that the distance that you measure (via Milling or Laser Range Finder, for instance) to your target isn’t the one you’re supposed to use. This type of shooting is like weaponized mathematics. In 2014 TFB did a short try to explain the basics.

The British Army’s official Twitter account shared an interesting photo of the pipe rifle range at NATO’s base in Kabul showing ‘newly arrived’ troops zeroing their rifles. The Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) Pipe Range is part of NATO’s base near Kabul’s airport. Interestingly, the men are armed with the L85A2, not the ‘new’ L85A3 which is reportedly supposed to be issued to all units going on operations. They’re also armed with the L131/Glock 17 pistols in RADAR holsters.