Posts Tagged With: libya

Identifying and analysing Small Arms Ammunition in Libya

CP01-05

The Small Arms Survey has recently released my latest long form report, examining the variety of Small Arms Ammunition (SAA) observed in Libya during and immediately after the recent conflict. This is the first in a series of baseline assessments of arms and ammunition holdings in Africa and the Middle East that I intend to author. The next report in the series will focus on SAA identified in Syria.

An extract from the press release:

The assessment is based on photos of cartridge headstamps, cartridges, and ammunition packaging, as well as shipping documents pertaining to small arms ammunition transfers. Most of these records are from Tripoli and were gathered during the first five months of 2012, with additional photos from Ajdabiya, Benghazi, and Misrata. This baseline will serve as a valuable tool for governments, NGOs, and other actors involved in understanding and stemming the illicit flow of small arms ammunition in the region … The Headstamp Trail forms part of the Small Arms Survey’s Security Assessment in North Africa, a multi-year project to support those engaged in building a more secure environment in North Africa and the Sahel-Sahara region.

The report can be downloaded and viewed here.

Image copyright: Damien Spleeters

Categories: Ammunition & Ordnance, Arms & Munitions ID, Libya | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Anza Mk-II MANPADS in Libya

Anza Mk-II (2)

Anza Mk-II Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) have been observed in Libya. A source working with an NGO in Libya, who wishes to remain anonymous, sent me the images featured in this piece. These images were taken in 2011 at arms depots wrested from government control by rebel forces. The Anza Mk-II, developed at the Dr A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories in Kahuta, is a derivative of the Chinese QW-1, first developed in the early 1990s. It was introduced to Pakistan’s armed forces in 1994, and features a slant range of approximately 5km, a maximum engagement altitude of around 4km, and a missile speed of approximately 600m/s. The Anza Mk-II missile features a solid-fuel booster and solid-fuel sustainer motor, weighs 10.68kg, and contains around 550g of High Explosive (HE).

The Anza Mk-II constitutes a greater threat than the SA-7b systems that make up the bulk of MANPADS identified in Libya. Nonetheless, it poses only a moderate danger to modern fighter aircraft. How these missiles ended up in Libya is not clear, with Malaysia being the only known export customer of the system. Anza Mk-I missiles have, however, been recovered by the Indian military from militants in Kashmir.

Anza Mk-II (1)Anza Mk-II missile launch tubes are seen alongside 9K32M (SA-7b) and 9K338 (SA-24) tubes in a captured arms depot. 

The Federation of American Scientists has some more information, here

Categories: Arms & Munitions ID, Libya, Small Arms & Light Weapons | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Vagaries of Proliferation: AK-103 and F2000 assault rifles in Gaza

On October 2nd the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (حركة الجهاد الإسلامي في فلسطين‎), the al-Quds Brigades, took to the streets of Fatah in Southern Gaza to mark the 17th anniversary of the assassination of Fathi al-Shaqaqi. Shaqaqi was assassinated in Malta by the Mossad in 1995. Each year, the al-Quds Brigades take to the streets for a military parade to mark the event, brandishing a variety of arms and carrying all manner of banners and flags. This year’s parade, however, was a little different, and held some interesting items for those of us following the spread of various small arms. Amongst the usual assortment of Russian AKMs & Eastern Bloc copies, Chinese Type 56 variants, PKMs, and RPG-7 variants and copies were two far less common weapons: the F2000 and AK-103 assault rifles.

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Categories: Arms & Munitions ID, Libya, Small Arms & Light Weapons | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Optics of the Libyan Conflict – Part III

Whilst work continues on the Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) database that I am currently compiling, I continue to come across a few interesting optics here and there. You can see my first two posts on these here, and here. I’ve added a handful more below.

This Barrett M82A1M is fitted with a Leupold 4.5–14×50 Mark 4 telescopic rifle scope. It also features the Barrett Optical Ranging System, or BORS. This device is an integrated ballistic computer, that couples directly to the elevation knob on the Leupold scope. It compensates for temperature, barometric pressure, and changes in the position of the rifle (tilt and cant).
Picture courtesy of James Bays (Al Jazeera)

 

A number of FN P90 submachine guns have cropped up in Libya, as part of an FN-Libya arms deal in 2009/10. They are fitted with Ring Sights MC-10-80 reflex sights. The NVD-compatible sight features a black ‘daytime’ reticule, and a red ‘T’ shape, lit by a Gaseous Tritium Light Source (GTLS), for night use.
Photo courtesy of Bradley E. Owens (Osprey Security Services). 

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Categories: Arms & Munitions ID, Libya, Small Arms & Light Weapons | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Libyan Conflict Oddity – Romanian Model 80 30mm AA Gun

A post on the Defence Talk forums by Abbas Ahmed, from Zenad Magazine in Misrata, featured a few curious photos of an unidentified AA system.

At first glance, it appears to look quite similar to a Russian ZU-23-2 (or a foreign copy), built around the 2A14 autocannon so commonly seen throughout the world, and in Libya. Libyan rebels used one, two, three, and four-barreled combinations of 2A7/2A14 autocannons, alongside 14.5mm KPV and 12.7mm DShKM heavy machine guns, SPG-9 recoilless guns, and a variety of both standard and improvised launchers for 122mm Grad and 107mm (mostly Chinese and North Korean) surface-to-surface rockets, 68mm SNEB air-to-surface rockets, and  S-5, S-8, and S-13 air-to-surface rockets.

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Categories: Ammunition & Ordnance, Arms & Munitions ID, Libya | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Optics of the Libyan Conflict – Part II

I’ve been trawling through thousands of Libyan conflict photos over the last few days and I’ve found a number of interesting small arms to add to the database. I’ve also come across a few more weapon sights to add to the list that I started here.

Stills from this video show what appears to be an Aimpoint-style collimator sight (possibly a CompM3?) or a knock-off attached to the right side Picatinny rail on an FN F2000 assault rifle.
Photo from video noted above. 

Romanian PSL rifles have seemed to be prevalent in Libya, and most that I have seen have been used in conjunction with I.O.R. (Întreprinderea Optică Română)  LPS TIP2 telescopic sights. These 4x magnification sights have a 24mm diametre lens, and are closely modeled on Soviet/Russian PSO-1 sights.
Photo from Reuters.

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Categories: Arms & Munitions ID, Libya, Small Arms & Light Weapons | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Small Arms of the 2011 Libyan Conflict – Cataloguing the Weapons of War

As some of my readers know, I have been undertaking a rather large research project over these past few months, inspired by my recent articles on the AK-103 assault rifles that have been seen in Libya. I am endeavouring to build a ‘complete-as-possible’ database of the various small arms used in the recent Libyan conflict. To do this, I am relying on OSINT collected from various media outlets, social media sites, uploaded videos, and so on, as well as NGOs operating in Libya, and local Libyan sources I have developed myself. A full list of sources will be available with the finished product. I have spent a lot of time identifying and, where necessary, researching the various small arms that have been spotted so far, and today began to develop a database for that raw information.

 

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Categories: Ammunition & Ordnance, Arms & Munitions ID, Libya, Small Arms & Light Weapons | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Optics of the Libyan Conflict

Let me just say, off the bat, that whilst I am familiar with a few different types and models of modern combat optics, I am by no means an expert. That said, I have bumped into a few photos from the recent Libyan conflict that have raised an eyebrow, so I though I would collate them here.

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Categories: Arms & Munitions ID, Libya, Small Arms & Light Weapons | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

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