Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (how time flies!).  Perhaps nothing demonstrates the magnitude of the changes since then better than the story below…

KLIMOVSK | Russia is working to reach an agreement with China on copyright protection of Kalashnikov assault rifles, according to the head of Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport.

“We have received China’s national patent for Kalashnikov products. The documents have been handed to the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation to prepare and conclude an intergovernmental agreement in the field,” Anatoly Isaikin told journalists.

Isaikin said the process of reaching a deal with China will be lengthy, but that Russia hopes it will be finished soon, and noted the huge number of unlicensed Kalashnikov rifles produced all over the world.

“There are about 100 million Kalashnikov assault rifles worldwide, of which half are counterfeit, i.e. produced without licenses, patents and intergovernmental agreements,” he said.

Isaikin said over 15 countries, including Bulgaria, Romania, Egypt, and China, produce the rifles either on expired licenses or without them.

“Even America produces the assault rifles, even though the country has never received a license for their manufacture,” he said.

Isaikin said there are at least 30 organizations illegally producing and trafficking the weapons, whose activities are very difficult to prevent.

The best-known Kalashnikov rifle is the 1947 model known as the AK-47. It is the most widely produced used assault rifle in the world, and is used by both regular armies and militant groups.

The creator of the AK-47, Mikhail Kalashnikov, is 89 years old and lives in Izhevsk.

Well – it probably wasn’t a deliberate campaign of dis-information, but there may have been some sort of deceptive camouflaging going on at DCS. 

It appears now that the initial images of their ATAC camo pattern which appeared around the world-wide web were of an earlier, preliminary version of the ATAC pattern – and not the version they were planning to laucnh at the SHOT Show 2010. 

However, DCS are aparently still on track to officially launch it at the 2010 SHOT Show, but in the meantime – because of all the hype and rumour – they’ve granted Soldier Systems Daily an exclusive sneak preview and some details of the background to the pattern.

Personally, I think that DCS over-state their case a bit – especially the part about their pixel shapes being more “natural” or “organic” - nonetheless, and contrary to popular perception, a pixel is not necessarily a sharp-edged, square shape.  On the other hand, ATAC also isn’t the first digital pattern that uses softer-edged shapes – MultiCam, Italian Vegetata, and Hyde Definition’s PenCott are first ones that spring to mind.  

However, there is no denying that the pattern looks pretty effective in the specific setting and lighting featured in their promo shot below. 

Visit Soldier Systems Daily for more of the story…

Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australian Special Forces soldiers have broken up several Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan, seizing weapons and other equipment, the Defence Force says.

Last month’s raid of insurgent bases by the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) and Afghan and Coalition forces resulted in the seizure of weapons, munitions and components used in making improvised explosive devices.

The soldiers also recovered stolen Afghan army uniforms and 100 kilograms of opium resin.

The Commander of Australian Forces in the Middle East, Major-General Mark Kelly, said the operation sent a clear message to the Taliban.

“This stronghold has, until now, provided a secure base area from which to sustain the insurgency throughout southern Afghanistan,” he said.

“What this operation says very clearly to the insurgency is that it doesn’t matter where you are, we can find you and strike you.”

“It also highlights our commitment to using the full suite of our Special Forces to protect the local population, ADF elements and to work in partnership with other coalition forces.”

About 1,500 Australian soldiers are in Afghanistan.

JERUSALEM, Nov. 4 (UPI) — Israeli naval commandos intercepted an Iranian arms cargo ship flying an Antigua flag some 100 nautical miles off the Israeli coast, the army said Wednesday.

Defense officials said they suspect the Iranian-made arms found aboard the Francop near Cyprus were headed for Syria and eventual transfer to Hezbollah and possibly other terror organizations, Maariv said.

Israeli special forces boarded the ship before dawn Wednesday and discovered the arms and ammunition. The vessel was towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod for further examination, where 122 mm. Katyusha rockets, grenades, assault rifles and mortar shells were found aboard the ship.

The ship documents described the cargo as being for “civilian use.”

This is not the first time Israeli military forces have nabbed ships smuggling weapons. In 2002 special naval forces backed by air support uncovered a huge weapons haul on the Karine A, which carried some 50 tons of military equipment including advanced rockets, explosives and anti-tank missiles. Last April Egyptian media also reported that Israeli armed forces sank an Iranian weapons ship off the Sudanese coast.

If you are a current, qualified paratrooper this might be of interest to you.  The Commanding General of the Portuguese armed forces has invited the Pathfinder Parachute Group to jump with the Portuguese paras (the “green berets”) during their annual international Jump Festival on the 20th of November.

Participants joining up with the PPG will not be taking part in any of the other tactical exercises or shooting competitions that make up the Jump Festival. They will however get to jump the round canopy equipment used by the Portuguese airborne, and jump from their aircraft under the direction of their jumpmasters – thereby earning the right to wear the covetted Portuguese Para Wings.

More information can be found through the Pathfinder Parachute Group website.

UK MOD Defence News

Now in its tenth year, Exercise Jebel Sahara continues to grow in size, scope and importance, offering British troops the chance to train in the kind of harsh conditions that they are facing on current operations.

The exercise takes place in the desert and mountains of Morocco and also offers the British military the opportunity to work alongside their Moroccan counterparts.

This year saw 180 soldiers from the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and 205 RAF and Army Air Corps troops training alongside 115 members of Morocco’s La Deuxieme Brigade d’Infanterie Parachutiste.

Troops of The Royal Gibraltar Regiment hitch a ride in a Morroccan "Hummer" during Exercise Jebel Sahara 2009, near Marrakech, Morocco.

Major Ivor Lopez, the overall exercise controller, said:

“This exercise is unique. The desert, with its high temperatures and rugged terrain, makes for some extremely challenging and utterly realistic conditions.

“We are able to ‘live fire’ our weapons and we are spoiled for choice when it comes to brilliant locations to train in all the different infantry skills needed in today’s counter-insurgency environments.”

To add to the realistic conditions, the final part of the exercise required the Gibraltar Regiment’s infantry troops to move forward into a replica Forward Operating Base, modeled on those found in Afghanistan.

The mock Forward Operating Base under construction by the G4 team as part of Exercise Jebel Sahara.

The training is centered on Ram Ram camp, a collection of huts situated just to the north of Marrakesh.

As well as having scores of vehicles, the exercise is supported by eight helicopters of the Joint Helicopter Force – five RAF Chinooks and three Lynx helicopters from the Army Air Corps.

A Chinook helicopter drops supplies for the Forward Operating Base constructed for the exercise.

The Moroccan authorities make huge areas of countryside available for this military training, ranging from arid deserts to the High Atlas mountains, and so the helicopters are an invaluable means of moving both men and equipment.

The exercise began at the start of October and the first people to arrive in Morocco were the Quartermaster, Captain Stuart Bensadon, and his logistics staff (the ‘G4 team’), whose task is to provide everything that could possibly be needed to make the exercise a success.

Having crossed the Straits on the once-a-week ferry from Gibraltar to Tangiers, it took nearly 35 hours for the regiment’s 36 vehicles to drive the 300 miles (483km) from the port to Ram Ram camp. Delays caused by breakdowns and punctures on the drive down from Tangiers meant that the drivers had to spend the night sleeping at the side of the road.

Having finally arrived at the camp, the Quartermaster and his staff needed to construct a tented town, equip it with electricity and sanitation systems and prepare kitchens able to provide over 400 people with water and three cooked meals a day.

At this stage plans were already in place for weapons and ammunition to be flown in, for huge quantities of water to be delivered daily, for communications to be established and for the necessary medical support to be established.

By the time the soldiers, airmen and helicopters arrived, a large patch of red earth and a few huts had been transformed into a small town of tents, all covered by camouflage netting.

Troops from the Royal Gibraltar Regiment training in conditions reflecting those on current operations.

The exercise, now well underway, saw both the British and Moroccan troops learning from each other. For example, soldiers from Gibraltar have been improving many of their own infantry skills but they have also been training their Moroccan counterparts in such specialist skills as sniping.

Exercise Jebel Sahara culminates with the ‘Sahara Patrol’ competition in which each section of ten men will cover 55 kilometres on foot in under three days. Along the way the sections will be faced with fourteen obstacles where they will be tested on their knowledge of first-aid, survival skills, Prisoner-of-War handling, etc.

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The quality of the exercise has attracted the attention of senior military officers and there have been visits from, amongst others, Air Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, Chief of Joint Operations; Commodore Adrian Bell, Commander British Forces Gibraltar; and Brigadier Richard Dennis, Director of Infantry.

The success of Exercise Jebel Sahara is also shown in the fact that Lieutenant Colonel John Perez has been appointed to the Order of Wissam Al Istihkak Al Askari (the equivalent of a British knighthood) by His Majesty The King of Morocco.

Lt Col Perez is the first non-Moroccan ever to be presented with this prestigious award.

The citation makes mention of ‘all the efforts which Lt Col Perez continues to deploy to improve the co-operation between the Moroccan and British forces in general and, in particular, between the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and La Deuxieme Brigade d’Infanterie Parachutiste (2BIP)’.

Heckler & Koch “real-steel” HK33 and HK53

Basically a G3 scaled down to take the 5.56×45mm round, and designed for the export market, the HK33 came in several variants.  The HK33A2 (fitted with a rigid synthetic stock), an accurized variant known as the HK33SG/1 (with a telescopic optical sight and improved trigger analogous to the one used in the G3SG/1), HK33A3 (with a telescoping metal stock), the HK33KA3 carbine (barrel reduced in length to the base of the front sight post also equipped with a telescoping metal stock).

During its production life the rifle received several minor improvements. The fixed stock was strengthened and the synthetic forearm replaced with a handguard that allows a lightweight bipod to be attached and stowed into two recessed grooves at the base.  These modified weapons are referred to as the HK33E.

A compact version of the HK33 was also developed.  Known as the HK53A3 carbine, it features a short 211mm barrel, a forearm derived from the MP5 submachine gun and a telescoping stock.  Later models also received an open-style flash hider of the same type as later seen on the G36K.

The HK13 and HK23 light machine guns were also based on the HK33.  They are fed from either box or drum magazines (the latter has a 100-round capacity), have a quick-change heavy barrel for sustained fire, shrouded with a sheet metal heat guard (replacing the synthetic forearm) and a 2-point bipod adapter.

The HK33 series was never adopted by the Bundeswehr, however, it has seen some use among European military and police force – particularly among special operations forces.  In fact, its little brother the HK53 has had a rather successful career in the UK and European special operations communities. Further afield, the HK33 series has enjoyed perhaps more success; being used or adopted by at least 17 non-European countries.

Sadly, the HK33 series is no longer manufactured or marketed by Heckler & Koch, the rights to the series now belong to the Turkish state arms producer MKEK.  They produce a modernised version of the HK33 that features the Navy-style trigger group, green ploymer furniture and semi-transparent polymer magazines that can be clipped together.  MKEK also produce a version with an integrated top rail and a side-folding HK UMP-style stock called the T-50, and a long-barrel adaptation of the HK33SG/1 known as the T-12.

CLASSIC ARMY “CA33E”

Much like its real-steel big brother the HK33E, the Classic Army CA33E has never achieved the kind of popularity of M16 or M4 replicas - or even of replicas of the 7.62×51mm G3 series.

Personally, I’ve always been a fan of the real-deal HK33 / HK93 and its various derivatives.  So I was quite excited when the possibility came along to own a high-quality, realistic, airsoft replica of the HK33K. 

The first type I owned was the superb KSC dual-mode HK33K (above) – but whilst it has the best build quality and hop-up unit of any airsoft HK33 on the market, its unique gearbox and piston design – and low power – made it less than ideal as a skirmishable weapon.

The CA33E on the other hand – whilst not as beautifully finished, or as technically interesting – offered the advantages of standard, upgradeable internals and a wider array of after-market accessories and parts.  These were the key reasons why I decided to add this particular model to my armoury. 

However, I became very frustrated with the apparent lack of dedication to this model shown by Classic Army – as demonstrated by the extremely slow pace with which they released other models and accessories for the series.  By  far the biggest frustration was the fact that CA chose to initially replicate only the real-deal 25-round style magzines – in low-capacity and high-capacity versions.  Only after they launched the CA53 range (HK53 replicas) did they add a replica of the real-deal 30-round style magazine – but only as a high-capacity type!  On the other hand, the CA33K still came with the old 25-round style 330-BB hi-cap magazine as standard.

Whilst the 30-round style hi-cap did at last provide a magazine that looked better in the gun, it still meant that the user had to put up with the annoyance of winding up the spring-tension feed mechanism to make it work.  And it also meant having to contend with CA’s sometimes hit-or-miss quality controls on their hi-cap magazines, as well as the rattle of BBs inside the metal magazine shell.

What we still needed was a non-winding, mid-capacity magazine in the 100-150 BB capacity range.  Well, now at long last, and without any fanfare, Classic Army have finally released a 30-round style, mid-cap magazine for the CA33 and CA53 series.  Woot!!

Not all mid-capacity magazines hold the same amount of BBs – some hold 90, some 100, some 110, some 120, some 130 and some 150.  100-rounders are good – becuase you can easily calculate how rounds you’re carrying buy adding up how many loaded mags you have.  90- rounders are kind of like “neither fish nor foul” – and run dry pretty quickly.  150-rounders offer a good quantity of ammunition for intense firefights, but can be less reliable and durable.  So for me, a capacity of 120 or 130 seems just about right – you get a good amount of ammunition to throw downrange, and they also seem to be more reliable and durable.

The Classic Army CA33/CA53 mid-cap’s hold 130 BBs, and they appear to be well made.  The shell is metal – which adds a very nice touch of realism and durability - and the top plate with the feed hole is plastic.  Unlike their CA33 lo-cap magazines, CA have included a spring-loaded BB retention nib that can be manually released – very handy if you need to unload a full magazine without doing it “Lebanese unload” style.

So far so good – but how do they perform?  Well, “pretty bloody good” was my first impression.  It loaded up smoothly and fed reliably – right down to the last BB.  As with most airsoft magazines, there’s always that one last BB that doesn’t get fed – and the couple in the feedtube that drop out when you remove the magazine.  Other than those typical issues, I didn’t have a single miss-feed or double-feed in the course of running several hundred BBs through a single magazine.

The mid-capacity magazines for the CA33 and CA53 should be available from any retailer that sells Classic Army products.  I got mine from Airsoft Armoury, for £19.99.  So, not the cheapest magazines on the market – but hopefully the price will come down over time, or Classic Army will offer a special-deal box set option as well.

Even at that price though, I know I’ll be getting some more – and I’m sure that all you old skool mil-simmers out there will be happy to know that at last there is a high-quality mid-cap option for your CA33 or CA53.

photo credits:  HKPro.com, MilitaryPhotos.net, Wikipedia, DefenceTalk.com, Ian Mays, Classic Army, Benji Hanson.

Source:  Navy Times

Amphibious ops to become default mode for MEUs

Soldiers from Alpha (Grenadier) Company of The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS), have fought off Taliban attackers in order to facilitate the recovery of a US Army Chinook helicopter.

When the helicopter of the US 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade suffered a hard landing on difficult ground in the Upper Sangin Valley, troops from 3 SCOTS were mobilised at short notice to secure the crash site.

A number of UK and Afghan troops had been on the troop-carrying aircraft but thankfully, although it was badly damaged, no-one was injured.

In a bid to secure the area, recover the airframe and to prevent it falling into Taliban hands, 120 men of Alpha (Grenadier) Company were flown to the desert site.

Soldiers from Alpha (Grenadier) Company of the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland have fought of Taliban attackers in order to facilitate the recovery of a US Army Chinook helicopter.

However, as a specialist US recovery team set to work to prepare the Chinook for extraction, insurgents began to mass.

Air cover was called in and devastating strikes by US attack helicopters and A-10 jets killed and injured several insurgents; one badly injured insurgent was subsequently treated by 3 SCOTS’ medics and evacuated by helicopter to an International Security Assistance Force medical facility.

This was sufficient to discourage the attackers and the rest of the day passed off without major incident.

With the crash site secured the helicopter was extracted just as the light began to fade; it was underslung beneath another helicopter and slowly lifted away to the safety of Kandahar Airfield.

An hour later the men of Alpha Company followed on and returned back to base.

Major Neil Kugler, Operations Officer of Task Force (TF) Tallon, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, said:

“The troopers of TF Tallon and the Jocks of The Black Watch, 3 SCOTS Battle Group, developed a great professional relationship over the past four months during the conduct of numerous combat air assault operations.

“It was fitting that the final combat mission in Afghanistan for The Black Watch was to recover one of our damaged aircraft.”

Lance Corporal Aaron Graham, aged 20 from Kirkcaldy, and a Section Second-in-Command in 1 Platoon, said:

“This was unlike any other job we have done out here. Once again we produced the goods and were pleased to keep the Taliban firmly on the back foot.”

3 SCOTS have been based in Kandahar where they took over as the Regional Battle Group (South) in April 2009. They are now coming to the end of their deployment and returning to the UK in the next few weeks.

Source:  UK MoD

Pictures: Crown Copyright/MOD 2009