By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com December 17, 2009 On December 4th, 2009, DefenseReview published an article on the HK IAR (Infantry Automatic Rifle) candidate–a modified HK416 5.56mm assault rifle/carbine/SBR–winning a U.S. Marine Corps IAR contract. In that piece, I tried to make the point that it’s a good idea to give warfighters a carbine/SBR with machine gun-level …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com December 15, 2009 Now, this is interesting. “The Korea Times” is reporting that some of the 350 South Korean troops deploying to Afghanistan (to protect 120 South Korean civilian reconstruction workers) will be armed with the Daewoo K11 semi-auto, mag-fed 20mm grenade launcher/select-fire 5.56x45mm NATO (5.56mm NATO) assault rifle a.k.a. airburst assault …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com December 4, 2009 Updated on 12/15/09 Marine Times (a.k.a. Marine Corps Times) is reporting on the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) selecting the Heckler & Koch Infantry Automatic Rifle–or HK IAR, for short–to replace the FN M249 SAW/LMG (Squad Automatic Weapon/Light Machine Gun). The HK IAR is a 5.56x45mm NATO (5.56mm NATO) gas …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com November 23, 2009 A company called VBR-Belgium (Van Bruaene Rik – Belgium) has developed a rather interesting and potentially important pistol-format compact PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) system. While it may look like a futuristic movie prop, the VBR-B Compact PDW is arguably the most intelligently-developed PDW weapon/ammo concept to date. So, what’s …

By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com October 6, 2009 Speaking of silencers/sound suppressors

by David Crane May 6, 2009 The April 2009 issue of Special Weapons for Military & Police (SWMP) (Gun Buyer’s Annual #74) has an article on the Smith & Wesson (S&W) M&P15R 5.45x39mm Russian (a.k.a. 5.45x39mm Soviet a.k.a. 5.45x39mm Kalashnikov) semi-auto tactical AR-15 carbine. It’s an interesting offering, since the 5.45mm Russian is an interesting little cartridge, and combining it …

By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com October 24, 2008 DefenseReview recently mentioned Singapore Technologies Kinetics a.k.a. ST Kinetics in our article on the GDATP IAR/Ultimax 100 Mark V (Ultimax 100 MK5) LMG/SAW is offering an interesting and pretty slick-looking little lightweight, multi-calber submachine gun (SMG)/personal defense weapon (PDW) called the Compact Personal Weapon (CPW) for CQB/CQC applications and …

by David Crane defrev at gmail dot com April 24, 2008 Back on March 10, 2008, DefenseReview published an article on the B.E. Meyers & Co./Surefire, LLC Open-Prong Flash Hider a.k.a. Open-Prong Flash Suppressor. Well, apparently, Advanced Armament Corp. (AAC) makes an advanced open-prong flash hider/suppressor that’s significantly shorter in length than the B.E. Meyers/Surefire product (and the Smith Enterprise …

by David Crane defrev at gmail dot com It looks like vehicle armor a.k.a. vehicular armor just got a whole lot cheaper to make. A team at the British Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) in-house science and technology center Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), the University of Cambridge and QinetiQ have teamed up to develop a process for making a …

by David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com December 21, 2007 Last updated on 7/30/11. Recently, DefenseReview published an article on custom tactical 1911 pistols built by Bob Marvel of Bob Marvel Guns a.k.a. Marvel Custom Pistols. It’s our understanding that Bob makes some of the most reliable tactical 1911 pistols in the United States, and thus the world, so …