Category: Small Arms & Light Weapons (SALW)

Bersa Lusber 84 used in assassination attempt on Argentinian Vice President

Patrick Senft On the evening of 1 September 2022, Argentina’s Vice President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, survived an assassination attempt outside her Buenos Aires home. The would-be assassin pointed his handgun at Ms. Kirchner (see Figure 1) and reportedly pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Nonetheless, media reporting has claimed that the weapon was loaded—and thus

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Craft-produced firearm used to assassinate Shinzo Abe

N.R Jenzen-Jones & Patrick Senft Around 1130 hrs local time on 8 July 2022, former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe (Abe Shinzō; 安倍 晋三), was shot in Nara, Japan, with a craft-produced (‘privately made’) firearm. Videos of the shooting suggest that the assailant was within a few metres of the former Prime Minister when

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ARES releases Research Report 12: Digital Bazaar (online arms trade, Syria)

Armament Research Services (ARES) is excited to announce the release of Research Report No. 12, Digital Bazaar: The Online Trade of Arms & Munitions in Opposition-controlled Syria. The release of Research Report 12 marks the completion of a project which began with Research Note No. 11, ‘Analysing the Online Arms Trade in Opposition-controlled Syria’, and

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FGC-9 3D-printed firearm seized in Western Australia

N.R. Jenzen-Jones & Patrick Senft On 12 June 2022, the Western Australia Police Force (WAPOL) held a press conference to present the first fully functional 3D-printed firearm seized in the Australian state of Western Australia (WA) to date. The gun was reportedly seized on 3 June 2022 from an 18-year-old individual who had manufactured it

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Weapons & equipment seized from alleged Russian saboteurs in Ukraine (2022)

Mick F. Editor’s Note: This article has an information cut-off date of 9 March 2022. On the morning of 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. The opening strikes were made with air-delivered and surface-to-surface guided and unguided munitions, with the ground invasion commencing immediately after the first attacks.  The invasion was focused on

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Russian GM-94 thermobaric grenade launcher documented in Ukraine (2022)

N.R. Jenzen-Jones & Charlie Randall Images and videos recently posted to Twitter and other social media platforms, purporting to show arms captured from Chechen ‘special forces’ and Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) troops in Ukraine, include the Russian GM-94 grenade launcher. Previously identified in Crimea during the Russian invasion of 2014, the GM-94 is a pump-action

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Virtual Symposium: A Century of Homemade Arms

Join us for an interdisciplinary discussion examining the past, present, and future of craft-produced small arms and light weapons! ARES is excited to announce the launch of the A Century of Homemade Arms virtual symposium, which will bring together some of the foremost international specialists in craft-produced firearms for a series of presentations open to

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Polish AWGŁ-3 Riot Control System

Jip Foxall McTavish with Jack Shanley The unusual Polish AWGŁ-3 less-lethal launcher system, shown in Figure 1.1 in its single-launcher configuration, can be operated as a stand-alone weapon or as part of a crew-served system. This riot control system was developed in the 1970s by the Ośrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy (OBR; ‘Research and Development Centre’), alongside the

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Analysing the Online Arms Trade in Opposition-controlled Syria: September 2021 update

Jack Shanley & Mick F. The conflict in Syria fuels a diverse trade in arms and munitions. Many transactions are performed online, providing an opportunity for remote analysis. This article is the eighth in a series of monthly updates to ARES Research Note 11: Analysing the Online Arms Trade in Opposition-controlled Syria. Readers should refer

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Common Training Hand Grenades of the Warsaw Pact

Kristóf Nagy This short article offers a brief, inexhaustive overview of the most common training hand grenades used by Warsaw Pact forces primarily during the Cold War period—although some remain in use today. The training devices featured in this article include examples manufactured by the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East

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