Posted on 01/23/2015 4:02:43 AM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com
As Russian military supplies continue to enter Ukraine, it becomes harder by the day for Putin to deny that Moscow is providing arms to the separatists.
In fact Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the US Army's top commander in Europe, says that Russian support for separatists has "doubled" since Ukraine and Russia reached a tentative ceasefire.
"When you look at the amount of Russian equipment that the proxies were using prior to the Minsk agreements, that amount has doubled beginning in December into the hundreds," Hodges told reporters on his first visit to Ukraine.
Russian support for the separatists include artillery, surveillance drones, and armored vehicles that would otherwise be next to impossible for a rebel group to obtain.
"Those are not the types of things you would find in a militia. They clearly are coming from a modern military force coming from Russia," Hodges said.
In November, the Armament Research Services has released their third report on the arms and munitions being used by both the Ukrainian government and the rebels in the ongoing conflict. Complete with photographic evidence, it is clear that Moscow has been covertly supplying an assortment of older Soviet weaponry along with recently introduced Russian equipment to the separatists.
In additon: Weapons That Russia Is Pouring Into Eastern Ukraine
Self-loading rifles are a popular weapon of the separatist forces.
Aside from a number of AK rifle varieties, the separatists also sport a host of recreation hunting and sport firearms. In one case, a separatist was documented using VSS rifles. These are Russian-made marksman rifles that are analogous to those used by Russian forces during the annexation of Crimea.
The self-loading rifles used by the separatists include:
Soviet AK-74 Soviet AKS-74U Soviet AR-10 and AR-15 hunting rifles Russian VSS designated marksman rifle
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.businessinsider.com ...
Think “Spain in the mid-30s”.
Who cares?
You probably should. Foreign adversaries pouring troops into this region historically haunt us.
“Self-loading rifles”
LOL.
It’s not quite that, they are 1. against “empire” (paultard), or 2. against Israel (paleo, of the Buchanan streak).
“Self-loading rifles”
Where can I get one of these remarkable products?
Are operators standing by?
Who writes this stuff?
“Useful idiots”
Well, Sarge:
Consider words are translated & 2nd... any weapons that are given by Russia kill
Europeans/Aussies often refer to semi-auto or full auto weapons as “SLRs.” The FN-FAL used in VN was called an “SLR” by the troops. Just a different term for the same thing.
Carriage Hill; Old Sarge:
I found this info for understanding of term use. Hopw this helps you identify weaponry:
The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle, also known as the SLR, by the Canadian Army designation C1A1 (C1) or in the USA as the “inch pattern” FAL,[nb 1] is a British Commonwealth derivative of the Belgian FN FAL battle rifle, produced under licence. It has seen use in the armies of Australia, Canada, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, New Zealand, Rhodesia, and the United Kingdom.
The original FAL was designed in Belgium using metric dimensions while the components of the “inch-pattern” FALs are manufactured to a slightly modified design using British imperial units. Many sub-assemblies are interchangeable between the two types, while components of those sub-assemblies may not be compatible. Notable incompatibilities include the magazines and the butt-stock which attaches in different ways.
Most Commonwealth pattern FALs are semi-automatic only. A variant named L2A1/C2A1 (C2), meant to serve as a light machine gun in a support role, is also capable of automatic fire. Differences from the L1A1/C1 include a heavy barrel, squared front sight (versus the “V” on the semi-automatic models), a handguard that doubles as a foldable bipod, and a larger 30-round magazine although it could also use the normal 20-round magazines as well. Only Australia and Canada used this variant, as the UK and New Zealand used Bren light machine guns converted to fire the 7.62mm NATO cartridge. Some Canadian C1s issued to naval personnel were also capable of automatic fire.
The L1A1 and other inch-pattern derivatives trace their lineage back to the Allied Rifle Commission of the 1950s, whose intention was to introduce a single rifle and cartridge that would serve as standard issue for all NATO countries. After briefly adopting the Rifle No. 9 Mk 1 with a 7 mm intermediate cartridge, the UK, believing that if they adopted the Belgian FAL and the American 7.62 NATO cartridge that the United States would do the same,[citation needed] adopted the L1A1 as a standard issue rifle in 1954. The US, however, did not adopt any variant of the FAL, opting for its own M14 rifle instead.
The L1A1 subsequently served as the UK’s first-line battle rifle through 1980s before being replaced by the 5.56mm L85A1. This was later updated due to operational faults in the early 2000s and redesignated the L85A2.
Gotcha, hadn’t heard that before...
Well, I would think the Ukrainians would care, for one. Ukraine shares a common border with four NATO Countries. I think they would care. And America is of course NATO.
Europe’s problem. Let them deal with since they wanted us Yankees to go home.
NATO is useless and should be disbanded.
Perhaps. But it little matters what any of us think. NATO exists. We are bound by Treaty to defend other members. Putin reportedly said he could be in Kiev in a week, Warsaw in two. Would he be foolish enough to try Warsaw? With the dipstick we have for “President,” who the hell knows!
“self-loading rifles”....so... semi-automatics...
It seems like they are going out of their way not to say ‘semi-automatics’ because they are afraid it might make people realize all those “bad” guns in the US aren’t automatic assault weapons?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a semi-auto called a self-loading weapon before.
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