Israel's Weapon's History

[bigmike45]

I was watching a show on the boob tube last night titled Modern Marvels. It topic this show was "The weapons of Israel". It was a really great show that truly described the way the country went from borrowed, found and I think some stolen weapons that were obselete 20 years before they were brought to Israel, to their modern day weaponry that is truly cutting edge. I was amazed that they were so resourcefull in devloping such fine firearms in such short timeframes....guns that are the standards which some of our modern day firearms are measured against. Dont know if anyone else has seen this program, but if not, its worth an hour of your time.

 

[bad_dad_brad]

Saw it as well. Very interesting. Especially like that old bearded Israeli retired soldier that made a modified and lighter Galil. On the History channel. Worth a view.

 

[armoredman]

Israeli rechambered 308 Mausers are neat - all the ones I find are beat to death, but would love to find one working. The Stens were put to very good use, as well. Yes, they did do marvels, going from 105mm Ben Gurion modified Sherman tanks to the top of the line Merkave MBT, as well as from Sten to Uzi to Galil.....
Thier new service pistol is ugly as sin, however....

 

[Onmilo]

If they didn't note this fact, did you know Israel is a major global arms importer?
The Galil rifle is a good example, the rifle was on the boards by 1970 and in production by 1972 yet the Israeli Army didn't actually begin using them in any great numbers until the mid 1980s.
Uzi submachine guns are around but not in the numbers folks might suspect, the Israelis really don't use sub-guns in any great numbers except for bodyguard details and issue to West Bank settlers.
Yes, the Israeli Government gives submachineguns to its citizens for personal protection.
The Tavor rifle is in the same export boat as the Galil and Uzi.
Mass issue could occur this year but it won't because Israel is selling the weapons to Croatia and some South American and South East Asian countries to garner hard currency which is far harder to come by than guns in that region.
The Tavor is an excellent rifle design but the local troops probably won't see them in large numbers until 2010 or so.
The Jericho,(Baby Eaqle), Kareen,( High Power), and Desert Eagle are excellent pistol designs but my friends who have been there say they aren't seen in any great numbers in Israel either mainly because the majority of these guns are exported for hard currency.
A good portion of the weapons in Israeli Military hands are hand outs from supportive Governments, i.e. USA and Russia.

 

[Boats]

I have happened to see this show before. I found it amusing that for all of the talk of indigenous weapons, shot after shot of modern IDF soldiers shows slung M-16 variants, but not a mention of this visual discrepancy is made, especially in light of all of the talk about why the FAL was replaced by the Galil because the FAL was considered desert unreliable. The M-16 must be more reliable than generally given credit for, right?

 

[Destructo6]

The M-16 must be more reliable than generally given credit for, right?

I don't know, but "free" is hard to pass on.

They should have made the Galil with a stamped receiver and eliminated the bipod for standard issue. Weight seems to be the greatest complaint about these things and incorporating can openers and other stuff doesn't help.

I found it amusing that for all of the talk of indigenous weapons, shot after shot of modern IDF soldiers shows slung M-16 variants

Yeah, that was hard to miss. I suppose the theme was mainly about the origins of the arms industry in Israel. It was a good show, though.