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Turkish Small Arms Industry | Updates and Discussions

The 12.7mm KNT of Kalekalıp production was requested by TSK and will be subject to the tests.

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IDEF 2017- MKEK Unveils MAM-15 Anti-Material Rifle


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On top of introducing a 5.56x45mm carbine, MKEK is also showing current prototypes of an anti-material rifle that the Turkish state-owned company is in the process of perfecting and producing. The MAM-15 utilizes a manual bolt action, is chambered in .50 BMG, and has a capacity of five rounds. MKEK states that the effective range is 1,800 meters, while its overall length is 61 inches while the barrel is 29 inches. The rifle has a full-length monolithic picatinny rail and another rail section at the 6 o’clock position on the handguard. Attached to the lower picatinny rail is the bipod system, of which we’ve seen two versions. One is an adjustable SAW like leg system, while the other is a quick detachment system that is very similar in operation and appearance to Versa Pod, or Accuracy International’s original bipod design. The stock is adjustable for length of pull in addition to cheek rest height. Currently, it does not appear that the stock can be folded and is instead fixed. It also has a monopod that can be adjusted as well.

Images from Army Recognition.



It appears that the Turkish Land Forces have the Barrett M82A1, 14.5mm Istiglal, and the .408 Chey Tac Intervention within their armories. However, most of these anti-material rifles are designated as being used by Turkish special operations forces and not Infantry troops. Due to the rising threat of SVBIEDs within Syria, a low cost, locally produced anti-material rifle might be necessary to conduct security operations where a precision shot into armored plating is necessary.








http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/05/23/idef-2017-mkek-unveils-mam-15-anti-material-rifle/
 
BREAKING: US Army Releases RFI for New 7.62mm Interim Combat Service Rifle

The US Army’s Program Manager for Individual Weapons has issued a new Request for Information (RFI) to the industry for a new 7.62x51mm Interim Combat Service Rifle, which seeks to bring out the best battle rifles the market has to offer. The RFI, posted at FBO,gov, reads:

DESCRIPTION: This announcement constitutes an official Request for Information (RFI) for an Interim Combat Service Rifle (ICSR). The U.S. Army, Army Contracting Command – New Jersey at Picatinny Arsenal is conducting a market survey on behalf of Product Manager Individual Weapons to identify potential sources for a combat rifle system.
This Request For Information (RFI) is for planning purposes only and should not be construed as a Request for Proposal or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any services or hardware. Your response to this RFI will be treated as information only. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this announcement or Government use of such information. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. The information provided may be used by the Army in developing its Acquisition Strategy, Performance Work Statement and Performance Specification. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information submitted in response to same. The information provided herein is subject to change and in no way binds the Government to pursue any course of action described herein. The U.S. Government is not obligated to notify respondents of the results of this survey.

Desired Attributes of Interim Combat Service Rifle:

• The rifle must be a Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) system readily available for purchase today. Modified or customized systems are not being considered.
• Caliber: 7.62x51mm
• Available barrel lengths, to include 16 and 20 inch barrels, without muzzle device attached.
• Muzzle device capable of or adaptable to auxiliary devices for:
— Compensation of muzzle climb
— Flash suppression
— Sound Suppression
• Fire Control: Safe, Semi-automatic, and fully automatic capable.
• All controls (e.g. selector, charging handle) are ambidextrous and operable by left and right handed users
• Capable of mounting a 1.25 inch wide military sling
• Capable of accepting or mounting the following accessories.
— Forward grip/bi-pod for the weapon
— variable power optic
• Detachable magazine with a minimum capacity of 20 rounds
• Folding or collapsing buttstock adjustable to change the overall length of the weapon
• Foldable backup iron sights calibrated/adjustable to a maximum of 600 meters range
• Weight less than 12lb unloaded and without optic
• Extended Forward Rail

Those looking to make a submission should follow the link to the FedBizOpps website for further information.

It seems that the current theory behind this switch lies with the US Army and Congress’s concern that current 5.56mm ammunition will be unable to penetrate hard ceramic body armors like the Army’s current ESAPI plates without switching to the larger 7.62mm round. While on the surface, this move seems to be logical, its legitimacy thins considerably when the situation is considered in detail. First, neither current 5.56mm nor 7.62mm ball ammunition (M855A1 and M80A1 EPRs) can penetrate ceramic armor at any combat distances, nor could any kind of hypothetical round that did not use a heavy metal. This means that for a 7.62mm rifle to be effective, it must fire not the current M80A1 round, but a tungsten-cored AP round such as M993 or the upcoming XM1158 ADVAP which almost certainly also has a tungsten core. What makes a switch to 7.62mm on this basis strange is that with tungsten-cored ammunition 5.56mm will also penetrate ceramic body armor out to 100-200 meters.

It would be incorrect to suggest that this solution in either caliber is “neat”. Rather, both are less than satisfying for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the extreme limited availability and high cost of tungsten material. Tungsten-cored ammunition is 4-5 times as expensive per round, and cannot be used in “industrial” quantities for large-scale economic war the way that normal ammunition can. Therefore, this solution – in either caliber – is problematic, and the question of what the right solution is if hard ceramic armors are expected to proliferate remains essentially unanswered, even with a 7.62mm ICSR.

All this raises the question: Is the armor issue simply an excuse for a larger-caliber infantry rifle? The suggestion that it might be draws attention to the very serious concerns I presented in my previous article about the ICSR effort. If the supposed benefits of the 7.62mm round in addressing a critical need to defeat next-generation body armor are more or less fiction, then what is so compelling about this move that a litany of major penalties to the rifleman’s effectiveness in both training and combat are deemed acceptable?

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/...-rfi-new-7-62mm-interim-combat-service-rifle/
 
Any specs available? I hope its better than the MKEKs

Better as in by performance or by its level of independent design.

The MKEK GPMG cannot necessarily be called an independent design as it is just a modernized PKM. However, performance wise, the PKM is arguably the best GPMG in the world even today. So it is solid platform. It is important to consider that MKEK does possess the capability to ruin it and produce a cheap and unreliable build however if they adhere to the original PKM standards it should be a fantastic GPMG and I would use it over any western equivalent.

As for Kalekalip, I cant fault their firearms. Up until now, solid designs with performance that exceeds anything that MKEK can even dream of producing.

So it is a close call for me. I do trust Kalekalip and I think they are more than capable to produce a solid design, but based off my experience, anything that is either a PKM or slightly modified PKM (eg. chambered for 7.62x51mm) is the best GPMG you can carry into combat. But deep down I know that anything which has an MKEK stamp on it will more than likely fail to perform half as good as MKEK claims. To this day, they have failed to produce a reliable weapon; including the initial batches of MPT76; that meets the standards they advertise until outside competitors are brought in to show MKEK what meeting standards means (eg Kalekalip).
 
Better as in by performance or by its level of independent design.

The MKEK GPMG cannot necessarily be called an independent design as it is just a modernized PKM. However, performance wise, the PKM is arguably the best GPMG in the world even today. So it is solid platform. It is important to consider that MKEK does possess the capability to ruin it and produce a cheap and unreliable build however if they adhere to the original PKM standards it should be a fantastic GPMG and I would use it over any western equivalent.

As for Kalekalip, I cant fault their firearms. Up until now, solid designs with performance that exceeds anything that MKEK can even dream of producing.

So it is a close call for me. I do trust Kalekalip and I think they are more than capable to produce a solid design, but based off my experience, anything that is either a PKM or slightly modified PKM (eg. chambered for 7.62x51mm) is the best GPMG you can carry into combat. But deep down I know that anything which has an MKEK stamp on it will more than likely fail to perform half as good as MKEK claims. To this day, they have failed to produce a reliable weapon; including the initial batches of MPT76; that meets the standards they advertise until outside competitors are brought in to show MKEK what meeting standards means (eg Kalekalip).
Yeah I think like you. Why they dont reform MKEK to do what it can do or just increase the level to a state that it do what it is suppose to do? By the way take a look at the polish PKM what a beauty isnt it? I hope at the end something like that will be in the hands of our guys.
 
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