Interest in special-warfare armaments on the rise.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: 2002 Eurosatory; France - Brief Article

A growing attraction to special-warfare, commando-style weaponry was evident at the 2002 Eurosatory arms exhibition in France. Russia and Israel, among the 39 countries represented at the show, displayed several technologies that are aimed for that market.

Noteworthy to small-arms experts at the show was a Russian 9 x 21 mm armor-piercing cartridge made with a steel core. Even though the cartridge is not new, it is now being sold as a weapon system" along with an automatic pistol and a compact submachine gun, both of which can fire the same cartridge. The cartridges and the guns have been sold separately for at least a decade, but now are marketed as a set.

The ammo was developed by Russia's Tsniitochmash engineering bureau, often referred to as "Technomash" by foreigners who cannot pronounce the Russian name.

The target customers for this weapon are special-operations forces.

"It's a nasty cartridge. It will go through Kevlar armor like a knife through butter," said Terry Gander, editor of Jane's small arms encyclopedia.

Current users of the cartridge include the Russian internal-security forces.

Another ammunition firm seeking to expand its international business is Israel's government-owned weapon manufacturing company, called IMI (Israeli Military Industries). Industry observers have been waiting for IMI's new family of assault rifles, called Tavor, to become operational with the Israeli Army.

The Tavor has been touted by small-arms experts as a state-of-the-art rifle. However, observers questioned why the weapon is not yet in production.

About 100 rifles were delivered to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), for developmental testing, said IMI's Levy Schmnel. He said the company expects to be producing the weapon in the near future. IMI officials are hoping that Tavor will become the modern equivalent of the Uzi, which IMI produced in the 1950s.

That may take a long while, said Gander. "Tavor is a very good weapon. But it's not yet in production, mainly because the Israeli Defense Forces got a shed-load of M-16s from the United States for nothing."

IMI began as an underground operation in 1933, before Israel even existed as a nation. In 1990, it was acquired by the government, but now is in the process of being privatized, said Menachem Misgav, IMI's director of communications.

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