Armament Research Services (ARES) has a database of Conflict Material (CONMAT), logging arms and munitions documented within the illicit sphere in conflict and post-conflict zones. I have been working on co-athoring a report with N.R. Jenzen-Jones covering Libyan arms trading conducted via social media platforms between November 2014 and November 2015 for Small Arms Survey. One of the…
Category: Military History
Military Weapons From the Past: Integrally Suppressed HK MP5 Sub-Machine Gun
If any of you grew up in the 80’s like me, most all of the military action flicks you watched had this gun in it. Remember Die Hard? Then when you grew up you thought “Why would anybody stake their lives on a glorified 9mm pistol?!” I still feel the same way about small caliber sub-machine…
Crusader Corner: The Spreading Cancer of Islam in West Africa
Côte d’Ivoire has become the latest country in West Africa to suffer a major terror attack. No fewer than 15 civilians and three special forces troops died when six attackers opened fire on the beaches in Grand-Bassam, a seaside town that’s popular with expats. Thirty-three people were wounded. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed…
Military Weapons From The Past: Smith and Wesson Model 39 Suppressed “Guard Dog Gun”
Navy SEALs in Vietnam needed a quieter handgun Smith & Wesson developed its Model 39 handgun in the early 1950s in response to requests from the U.S. Army for a new, lighter service pistol chambered in nine-by-19 millimeter. When the initial interest from the Army evaporated, Smith & Wesson was left with a modern semi-automatic…
U.S. Army Changing Dog Tags For First Time In 40 Years
For the first time in 40 years, the U.S. Army is making changes to a century-old piece of hardware, dog tags, the identification implements that hang around each soldier’s neck. For a low-tech thing like the aluminum dog tag, the reason for the change is decidedly high-tech, the threat of identity theft. On the new…
Military History: Leaflet Propaganda Campaign Proved Inept
The United States and its allies dropped some 2.5 billion propaganda leaflets during the Korean War. But after the 1953 armistice which halted the fighting, the Pentagon discovered that few enemy troops ever read the messages, let alone understood them. One reason was that pilots rarely dropped the leaflets in the right places. There were also too many types of…
Cold War Files: Military Records on U.S. Role in Run-up to 1976 Argentine Military Coup to be De-Classified
President Barack Obama will move to declassify U.S. military and intelligence records related to Argentina‘s “Dirty War,” the White House said Thursday, aiming to bring closure to questions of U.S. involvement in a notorious chapter in Argentina’s history. Obama’s visit to Buenos Aires next week coincides with the 40th anniversary of the 1976 military coup…
Up Close and Personal in the Russian/Ukranian Conflict
Things have been various levels of blistering between the Ukraine and Russia over the Crimean Peninsula for a long time now. Recently we came across a compilation of front-line footage that was released late last year. Body cameras aren’t just popular for surfing and skydiving anymore. Inside you’ll gain some insights on some of the heavier…
The Persian Army of Xerxes is Preparing to TRY and Rule the World….Again.
Ever see the movie 300? or it’s not so great sequel 300: Rise of an Empire? Yeah the enemy the Greeks are fighting in those movies are the Persians…the ancestors of the modern day Quds Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah. -SF Iran preparing to dispatch snipers, commandos to Syria As Russia announces pullout, Tehran says it…
Brush-Up on Your History: Failed Constitutional Amendments That Would Have Changed How America Wages War
The U.S. has mulled a few constitutional amendments, including some radical ideas about the government and warfare. What if war were unconstitutional? Yes, it sounds like something John Lennon would say, but it was actually an attempted amendment to the Constitution in 1927. Alternatively, what if the U.S. was unable to supply equipment, aid, or…