by David Crane Well, it looks like we’ve officially entered the era of Directed Energy Weapon’s, a.k.a. DEW’s. It’s just been disclosed that two of our Apache attack helicopters got "illuminated" by a group of four North Korean MiG jets back in March. The actual illuminating was accomplished using what is believed to have been a Chinese-made ZM-87 anti-personnel laser. …

by David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com May 6, 2003 Several months ago, DefRev attended the AUSA 2003 Winter Symposium (Feb. 26-28). During the show, we ran into the fine people at IMI (Israel Military Industries), and got a chance to handle their Tavor assault rifle variants, the Tavor TAR-21 Commando Carbine (shortened version of the Tavor assault rifle, …

by David Crane Taser International is about to introduce their new Taser X26. The new offering will utilize a technology the company calls "shaped pulse technology". Apparently, the new Taser X26 is 60% smaller and lighter than the company’s current top of the line Taser, the Taser M26. The Taser X26 will be formally unveiled on May 30, 2003. The …

by David Crane There’s a new sheriff in town, and it’s called LOSAT. Brought to you by the good and enterprising people at Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control, LOSAT is one of a new group of anti-tank weapon systems that is quickly changing the face of the modern battlefield, specifically in the area of ground-to-ground combat. Here’s my prediction …

Duane Dieter is a well known tactical and combat instructor in both military and LE SWAT circles. Apparently, he’s now making parts and accessories for tactical weapons that will hold up to the pounding and stress of CQB (Close Quarters Battle). One of these products is his new CQD Vertical Foregrip designed to slide onto a standard mil-spec 1913 picatinny …

DefRev just found this company on the web. Stavatti is an Aerospace Defense Prime Contractor that "is engaged in the design, qualification, production, distribution, service and total system support of new and original: fighters, sportplanes, tactical and strategic reconnaissance platforms, high performance corporate transports, heavy-lift theater transports, bombers, strike aircraft, launch vehicles and additional advanced aerospace vehicles." Apparently, they make …

The M26 Taser is a non-lethal electronic stun device that’s currently only available to law enforcement and the military. Hopefully this will change soon, as civilians could make just as good use of the device. As it stands, civilians can only obtain a less powerful model. This s a curious practice, considering the fact that so many citizens already have …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com A little over a year ago, I wrote a story on the Arms Tech Recon Rifle. Well, in early November 2002, I got to shoot Arm’s Tech’s Compak-16 select-fire subcarbine/SBR (Short-Barreled Rifle), which is basically a shortened version of the Recon Rifle. I actually had a lot of fun shooting ths gun. Ideally, I would have …

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 …

by David Crane david@defensereview.com DefRev (DefenseReview.com for any newbies out there) has known about the RROC Conversion for quite some time–about the last year and a half, long before it even had a name. RROC stands for Reduced Recoil Operation Control system, and it was invented/developed by Bob Davies out of Tempe, Arizona. Bob’s company is called Advanced Device Design …