#Israel

James Reeves is at IWA 2024 talking to Mike about the Israeli-made LAWS-M reflex sight, which may be the most durable optic in the world, according to its creator. Designed with urban combat in mind, the LAWS-M has no plastic parts and can hold zero on a .50 caliber machine gun. It includes a BDC reticle and has a long battery life. See the video and judge for yourself.

The Meprolight Mepro M21 reflex sight has an extensive history with foreign armed forces that spans several decades now. It was first introduced in the early 2000s and was quickly adopted by its country of origin as a standard-issue optical rifle sight. Originally developed to meet the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) requirements, the M21 underwent rigorous testing and evaluation to ensure its suitability for Israel’s military applications. The IDF needed a robust reflex sight that could withstand demanding combat conditions while providing rapid and reliable target acquisition capabilities without the need for extra components like batteries. Since its introduction, the M21 has been in service for almost two decades and was used in conflicts by nearly all combat units in the IDF.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves talks about the best handgun he’s ever bought. In episode 1, James bought the $179 BUL Impact, but in this episode, James takes on the Gen 1 BUL Cherokee, an Israeli-made CZ-75 clone. Yes, it was almost 50% more expensive than the BUL Impact, but was the BUL Cherokee worth the extra spend? James thinks so. Check today’s video to find out why.

IDEX has always been an important event for the defense industry players across the globe. Few countries never attended, and one of these was Israel. In 2021, thanks to the Abraham Accords, this has changed. Here we’ll see a few products of EMTAN, short for EMTAN Karmiel Ltd, a name not so familiar for most readers, yet OEM of thousands of commonly available components.

Israeli firearm laws have been of interest to firearm owners around the world due to their unique status within Israel. Common misconceptions are that most anyone in Israel can carry a firearm and do so in almost any manner whether it is a long gun or a handgun. The truth is that Israeli citizens are subject to extremely stringent laws and regulations that govern the registration and use of firearms throughout the country.

Almost a year ago TFB reported that the Indian Army was on a tour to source 16,400 Light Machine Guns. The tour included visits to three (to our knowledge) firearms manufacturers, including  Arsenal in Bulgaria and S&T Motiv in South Korea. The winner has now been announced and the first price goes to Israel Weapon Industries (IWI), in a $118 million deal for 16,479 NEGEV NG7 7.62mm Light Machine Guns (LMG).

It’s not often that TFB writes about BUL Armory (Israel), but they make some really good looking pistols.

Elbit Systems has completed a deal to buy its rival IMI Systems Ltd (formerly Israeli Military Industries) in a deal worth nearly half a billion dollars. Elbit Systems’s acquisition of the government owned defence contractor marks the end of the protracted privatisation of IMI.

At a recent amnesty program held by the Israeli Defense Forces, a first model Dror in .303 British turned up along with a number of other small arms that had been surrendered as part of a drive to return historical small arms from IDF veterans or otherwise. In this particular case, the Dror that was handed in is of special importance because of how rare it is. We talked about this on TFB TV a while back and Ian has an excellent post on Forgotten Weapons about it as well. The early variants of the light machine gun that was illegally manufactured in Canada, sent as contraband to Israel where it was assembled, were in .303 British and had a side mounted magazine slot that could fit a 20-round magazine based on the Johnson LMG’s design. They didn’t fare too well in Israel due to feeding issues and only 800-1000 were ever made before the second variation was improved upon and ironically entered service in Israel after the fight for independence had already been won.

The idea of converting the handguns into carbines is quite popular among Israeli firearm manufacturers. I am sure you know about the CAA Roni and Micro Roni as well as FAB Defense KPOS kits. However, there is another, less known conversion kit called Kidon which is made by a company called  IMI Defense. It has been around for a couple of years, however, it is unknown to many people and I think our readers would love to learn about another pistol to carbine conversion kit.

Although not a new development, the recent Palestinian protests against Israel have once again showcased one of the IDF’s unique developments when it comes to crowd control and less-lethal armaments. In use by both the IDF and Israeli law enforcement elements on issued 5.56x45mm NATO M4 and M16 service rifles is a muzzle attachment that locks onto the muzzle brake of the rifle. The device extends the overall length of the firearm by at least another 6 inches. Specifically it is designed so that a shooter can place a rubber projectile inside the muzzle of the metal tube and then fire it from a blank cartridge. Because there is no encapsulating rod or plunger to force propellant gases back into the gas tube, the rifle has essentially become a bolt gun at this point. The shooter has to manually rack the charging handle, eject the spent round, chamber a new one, in addition to placing a new less-lethal projectile into the tip of the muzzle extension.

An Israeli startup company by the name of Smart Shooter has been in the process of developing an Israeli solution to what is very similarly seen in the United States through Tracking Point. However, unlike Tracking Point, the companies SMASH system can apparently be attached to any rifle as long as it has the appropriate M1913 Picatinny rails for optics and a forward pressure switch location. Those familiar with Tracking Point will know that the U.S. company sells its products as one complete weapon system, instead of a single optics and electronics package.

At IWA, I walked past EMTAN’s booth.See photo below. Nothing of much interest as their booth had AR-15 style rifles. That is until I spotted something on the wall that looked interesting. It is a 9mm AR that uses CZ Scorpion Evo mags.

This is Marawan Maklad’s third guest post for TFB. His first guest post is about the Istanbul Military Museum: Small Arms of the Ottoman Empire.

The Israeli Dror Light Machine Gun was born during a time of necessity. What would later become the state of Israel was fighting off numerous enemies all around it and needed every weapon system possible. Through this endeavor, a sympathetic employer who formerly worked at Johnson Automatics helped supporters in the United States form a working copy of the M1944 Johnson LMG, fabricated in Canada, and then covertly shipped over to Israel where production was completed.