SYMPOSIA AT SHRIVENHAM: XXIV SMALL ARMS AND CANNON SYMPOSIUM

SAR Staff — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:47:00 +0000

Elcan Optical Technologies Elcan, whose parent company is Raytheon, brought a variety of optical sights manufactured by the company to the show. Of particular interest to the British element was the Elcan SpecterOS4x lightweight optical day sight which has been selected by the UK MOD FIST Programme.

As has been commented on before in this journal there are two conferences that should be on the list of anybody in the small arms and ammunition community to attend. While the bigger NDIA Small Arms Symposium held in the United States in May of each year is the larger, the Shrivenham Small Arms Symposium held at the Defence Academy is the focal point for European developments.

The smaller size of the Shrivenham Symposium gives it a more personal atmosphere, both Symposia provide a vital opportunity to ‘network’ and the 24th annual Small Arms and Cannon Symposium held in August of 2010 saw increased attendance over previous years. The programme of three days of short presentations on various subjects is now well established.

There were in all twenty-one presentations in the busy programme and the varied subject matter of the presentations included:

* Is there a problem with the lethality of the 5.56mm calibre? by Per Ardvisson.

* The 6.25x25mm CBJ – The sub-calibre approach by Mikael Johanson.

* Reduced Range Ammunition for Combat and Training by Thomas Mauritzson.

* The 20mm NEOPUP Weapon System by Tony Neophytou and Hennie Vermaak.

* Thermal sights for Long Range Small Arms and Soldier Modernization by Andreas Peterhanwahr.

* The NATO Powered Rail. Major B Gilchrist, Canadian Army.

* The U.S. Lightweight Small Arms Technologies Programme, Status & Plans by Paul Shipley.

* The Personal Defence Weapon -The Continuing Evolution by Mark Zimmerman.

* Acquisition Status of Small Arms and Ammunition for the United States Marine Corps by Sal Fanelli, USMC.

Although as said earlier this Symposium is primarily focused on European developments and issues, this year the local presentations were rounded off with contributions from the U.S. and Canada reflecting the joint issues that affect all coalition partners currently undertaking military operations.

SAR would like to encourage the small arms community to lend their support to the 25th Small Arms & Cannon Symposium to be held in the last full week of August 2011.

Accuracy International Nick Privett, Contracts Manager on duty at the Accuracy International (AI) booth. AI has enjoyed considerable sales success in the recent past and their AW model in .338 Lapua Magnum, in British service as the L115A3 has proven a great success with the user on military operations with coalition forces in Afghanistan. It is reported that the latest offering in the AI product line, the AX338, has seen its first overseas military sale.

NAMMO Peter Hedsand, Technical Marketing Manager and colleague Kim Dahl at the NAMMO stand, regular attendees and presenters at the show, this year NAMMO product launched in the UK their new range of Reduced Range Calibres, intended not only for training purposes where range safety templates are restricted, but also for operational use where avoidance of collateral damage at longer range is an issue.

Merlin series (short/medium/long-range) of lightweight II night vision adaptors.

Viking Arms Ltd of Harrogate England is one of the UK’s principal distributor’s of military and law-enforcement equipment. Recently added companies to their product range are NFM Tactical Textiles & Body Armor and Votex Optics. Rob Macarthur advised that Viking Arms had recently been selected by the manufacturer as the UK military sales representative for Glock. The company planned to submit an example of the Glock pistol in the forthcoming selection trials for a new sidearm for the British Forces.

UTM (Ultimate Training Munitions) Ltd Located in the east of England, UTM describe themselves as the provider of ‘The Worlds First FULL System of Training Ammunition and Fail-Safe Conversion Kits.’ Certainly as seen at the show their product range of over 15 different types of conversion units for military and law-enforcement weapons looked impressive. The ammunition types developed by UTM are unique to that company.

Otis Technology, Inc. Otis has established an international reputation for their gun care systems, including sales to the British MOD, so it was no surprise to see them at the show.

This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V14N9 (June 2011)

Elcan Optical Technologies – Small Arms Review

SYMPOSIA AT SHRIVENHAM: XXIV SMALL ARMS AND CANNON SYMPOSIUM