Symposia – Small Arms Review

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)

SYMPOSIA AT SHRIVENHAM: THE 22ND SMALL ARMS & CANNON SYMPOSIUM

SAR Staff — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:18:00 +0000

By Dan Shea

Symposia at Shrivenham attendee Gregory Welteroth fires the British EM-2 Bullpup rifle in .280 caliber at an earlier Symposia. The Collection at Shrivenham is quite inclusive, and each year during the firing demo the Armoury Staff attempt to bring out some interesting firearms Photo by Dan Shea

19-21 August, 2008, Shrivenham, UK

There are two small arms conferences in the West that this author considers to be the most important in the world for the serious small arms community to attend: the NDIA Small Arms Symposium held every May in the United States, and the Small Arms and Cannon Symposium at Shrivenham held every August in the UK. While there are many excellent, larger trade shows that have some educational aspects to them, these two conferences stand out as events that encourage the dialogue between the shakers and movers in small arms design and end use.

There are differences between the two events, and how they are focused. NDIA is the larger of the two, but the sister event at Shrivenham has a very personal quality to it that keeps it popular with attendees, and important to the community.

The Defence Academy of the United Kingdom sponsors many defence related scholarly events every year. The Symposia at Shrivenham had its 22nd annual Small Arms event in August of 2008. The normal schedule was followed: three days of short lectures on various subjects, interspersed with breaks in the trade show exhibit area to share coffee, snacks, luncheon and tea with the exhibitors. This format has worked quite well in the past, allowing breaks from the lectures, and close interaction with the exhibitors.

AIM InfraRot-Module’s display of infrared and visible source security cameras and surveillance systems introduced the attendees to what was possible for detail in their new modules.

There were approximately 15 seminars in the lecture program; here are some examples of the seminars attended by the participants:

Less-Lethal Ammunition presented by Anthony Williams
Nammo’s 50 Caliber Ammunition Family by Jorn Amundsen
New Extended Range Shoulder Fired 40mm Grenade Systems by Danie Els
Aimpoint BR8 by Lennart Ljungfelt
Incremental Excellence; Tomorrow’s State-of-the-Art Assault Rifle Today by Jim Schatz
NATO Infantry Weapons Standardization by Per Arvidsson
Current and Future UK Small Arms Capability by Lieutenant Colonel James Daniel, MBE
UK Soldier Modernization Update by Colonel Peter Rafferty, MBE

The “Shrivenham” Small Arms & Cannon Symposium is located at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Cranfield University, Shrivenham, UK. This is to the west of London off the M4 motorway. Contact

Lennart Ljungfelt, President of Aimpoint, shows the BR8 Fire Control System that he gave a presentation on. This appears to be one of the fastest 40mm target acquisition sights ever made. It was demonstrated for NATO recently and hopefully this system will be tested at the NDIA Small Arms Symposium Live Fire Demonstration in May in Las Vegas.

Qioptic presented their VIPIR and VIPIR-2 Thermal Weapon Sights, and had a very active presentation.

Mrs. Lynn Anderson,
Symposia Organiser
Symposia at Shrivenham,
MH23, DA-CMT
Cranfield University,
Defence Academy of the
United Kingdom, Shrivenham,
Swindon, SN6 8LA.
Tel: +44 1793 785648
E-mail: Lynn@symposiaatshrivenham.com
Website: www.symposiaatshrivenham.com
SAR would like to encourage the small arms community to lend their support to the 23rd Small Arms & Cannon Symposium on August 25-27 of 2009. Hope to see you there.

Brugger & Thomet’s stand alone GL-06 40x46mm shoulder fired grenade launcher is lightweight, fast to operate, and becoming quite popular internationally for both HE and less-than-lethal operations. The French government recently purchased approximately 3,600 units. Viking Arms brought this product to the UK. In the US, the GL-06 is available to LE and military from LMOLLC at www.longmountain.com

Viking Arms presents a selection of tactical firearms with EOTech Holographic sights mounted, and various B&T accessory rail units added. Left side: (top) Fabarm 12 ga. Shotgun, (middle) HK G36C, (bottom) HK MP5-A2. Right side: HK MP-7A1 in 4.6x30mm, B&T GL-06 40mm Stand-alone Grenade Launcher, Knight’s Armament Company SR-16 in M4 configuration. Front: SA80A2 (L85A2) with B&T rail forend and suppressor.

Pictured here is the Brugger & Thomet MP9 machine pistol in 9x19mm that was presented with Rotex III suppressor. In the US, the MP9 is marketed as the TP9 Select-Fire Tactical Pistol, and is available (LE & military as well as Class 3 dealers) along with most B&T Products from DS Arms at www.dsarms.com

Mark Lee and Jane Cooper of Istec Services Ltd. presented the Istec UGM- Universal Gun Mount. Typical weapons that are fitted to the UGM are: 40mm H&K GMG, 40mm MK19 Grenade Launcher, 20mm GIAT 621 Cannon, 12.7mm (.50 caliber) M2HB HMG, and the L7 Series GPMG/7.62mm FN MAG 58 (single and twin).

The UGM is designed to provide a solid, backlash-free platform when clamped. After the weapon has been roughly aimed and clamped, fine adjustments can be made by means of two control wheels, allowing the weapon to be finely zeroed or ‘walked’ across the target. This ensures exceptional single shot accuracy and the ability to quickly engage or track targets. A wide arc of elevation/depression and traverse gives the user good options of engaging targets, without losing any of the accurising features.

Steven Blakely of MilPolice is a fixture around the world at military and police trade shows. He has built MilPolice up over the years from MilPolice’s flagship product “Weapon-Clear” to include some very interesting range and tactical items for the community. Shown are two of the MilPolice Weapon-Clear units. There are five offered: shown are the shorter, red colored “Emergency-Clear” unit, and the full sized “Rifle-Clear” unit. Both will handle from handguns up to .50 BMG (12.7x99mm) AP rounds. These are an excellent and necessary range and building safety addition to allow all armed personnel to safely double-check and “prove” clearance on their firearms before leaving a range or entering a facility. More information is at www.weapon-clear.com/.

Not shown is the new ShockKnife, which is an effective training tool regarding knife fighting. This manipulation aid delivers varying levels of battery sourced electrical shock on contact with the trainee and is a very good deterrent to help the trainee understand the reality of contact with an edged weapon in a fight. www.shocknife.com/

One of the hits of the display area was MilPolice’s action display of the new Ammo-Up unit. Ammo-Up is a wheeled unit for taking to the range that has long plastic fingers that pick up fired brass and deposit it in the bin. Looking very much like a leaf-sweeper for yard work, the Ammo-Up unit can be used on pistol and rifle brass, and they also offer the shotgun shell unit as well. www.ammoupusa.com

This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V12N9 (June 2009)