by David Crane david at defensereview.com – Vltor Weapon Systems is now manufacturing Russian-type 7.62mmx54R (7.62x54mm) PKM General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG) for U.S. military forces. It’s our understanding that the Vltor PKMs will be used for familiarization training, and possibly OPFOR (just seems logical). DefRev got to view and handle one of these guns at the Vltor booth, and …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com On January 11th (2006), DefenseWatch/Soldiers For The Truth (SFTT) published an article by DW/SFTT editor Nat Helms about a critical/damaging U.S. Marine Corps forensic study on Interceptor OTV body armor, titled Interceptor OTV Body Armor Costs Lives, An Internal USMC Report Shows.Two days later, on January 13th (2006), DefenseReview reported on the current Pinnacle Armor Dragon …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com This article contains the first digital photo of a camouflaged/combat-ready/field-ready Foster-Miller Armed/Weaponized Talon Robot/UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle), a.k.a. SWORDS robot of which DefenseReview is aware. The weapon attached to the Talon Robot/SWORDS robot in the pic would appear to be an AT4 anti-armor/anti-tank weapon (ATW) (i.e. rocket launcher), which is produced by Saab Bofors Dynamics, Weapon …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com Marc Krebs, of Krebs Custom Guns, has designed/developed a very interesting custom AK-47/AKM/Kalashnikov variant called the KTR-03S rifle/carbine. Basically what Krebs Custom has done with the KTR-03S rifle/carbine is bring the AKM/Kalashnikov series rifles and carbines kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. The KTR-03S rifle/carbine is semi-auto-only, and thus civilian-legal. Based on the Russian Saiga …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefenseReview has been interested in the Nikonov AN-94 "Abakan" assault rifle for a pretty long time, now. I believe I first read about it in 1994 or 1995. Designed by Russian small arms designer Gennadiy Nikonov, the AN-94 is an interesting rifle, as it enjoys one of the same (major) advantages as the Ultimax 100 Mk3 …

The VEPR K carbine by Robinson Armament is available in 7.62x39mm and 5.56x45mm calibers. Barrel is 16". The VEPR K carbine is by all accounts very well made and of high quality. Anyone looking for a handy carbine length AK (Kalashnikov) would be well served to take a look at one. The VEPR K is available with an… AK-74-style muzzle …

Back in September, I wrote a quick blurb on the Chinese QBZ-95(Type 95) infantry rifle, chambered for the proprietary 5.8x42mm cartridge. Now, while it’s true that I’m not a particularly big fan of the Chinese army, it must be noted that the Chinese are not stupid, and they decided on this caliber after conducting a rather extensive amount of ballistic …

Several months ago, in a phone conversation, Alex Robinson, owner of Robinson Armament, told me he was working on a new rifle project for the military. He couldn’t disclose very much at the time, but it certainly sounded very interesting. Well, it now appears that he was talking about the brand new Robinson Armament RAV02 MC (pronounced "RAVE") select-fire rifle/carbine. …

O.k, here’s the second installment highlighting the excellent "AK Mania" issue of SAR(Small Arms Review), Nov., 2002. By the way, this is a really great AK issue for all those Kalashnikov lovers out there. In this DefRev installment, we’re going to discuss ASD Firearms LLC’s authentic-looking AK variants, both full-auto and semi-auto only. The SAR story we’ll be discussing this …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com The following article was written and published in June, 2002. It’s no secret that the performance of both the M4 Carbine and it’s 5.56x45mm caliber have, so far, been somewhat less than outstanding in the war against Al-Queda forces in Afghanistan. In short, the enemy hasn’t been dropping quickly enough when they are hit. Apparently, the …