DESIGN
After the Six-days war of 1967, it became
clear that the FAL was not suited for desert
warfare, was too heavy and that the enemy
AK-47 was a superior weapon. At the end of
the war the decision was made to develop
a new assault rifle based upon the Kalashnikov
and the new 5.56x45mm cartridge. Two designs
of the Israeli Military Industries were tested
by the Israeli army. The first design was
created by Uziel Gal (who is also the creator
of the UZI) and the second design was developed
by Israel Galili. The latter design, based
on the Finnish Valmet Rk.62 assault rifle
(a license-built AK-47 clone), eventually
won the competition and was selected as the
new IDF assault rifle in the 1973, but its
actual adoption was delayed by the next Israeli-Arab
Yom Kippur war of 1973. The SAR was chosen
as the new infantry rifle and the ARM as
a replacement for the LAR, a support version
of the FAL. For the foreign market all rifles
are also produced in 7.62x51mm. After the
initial development of the SAR, AR and ARM,
a 7.62mm sniper rifle was developed. One
of the more successful new variants is the
MAR, a sub machine gun in rifle calibre.
The latest development is the unsuccessful
Magal, which was designed to be a less intimidating
police weapon than the M16. |
| A sub machine gun in the .30 Carbine calibre.
It was developed for the police and can also
fire non-lethal rounds. The .30 round is
used, because the 5.56mm has the drawback
of over-penetration at short ranges. It's
an unreliable weapon and has a too short
barrel. It also is a very expensive weapon. |
| The MAR is the smallest of the Galil series.
If the stock is folded it has the same size
as the UZI SMG, but it has more power. It
is used mainly by special forces in close
combat situations. MAR stands for Micro Assault
Rifle. |
| The SAR is the carbine version of the Galil
AR and the most widely used Galil variant.
It was the standard infantry weapon of the
Israeli army, which proved to be a mistake.
The barrel is too short to be effective at
longer ranges. It has the same range as the
AK-47, which is used by the enemies of Israel.
SAR stands for Short Assault Rifle. |
| The SAR in the 7.62mm NATO calibre. It's,
opposed to the 5.56mm SAR, the least used
Galil. It has a longer barrel than the 5.56mm
version, but the barrel is still too short
to be an effective 7.62mm rifle. |
| One of the heaviest 5.56mm rifles, therefore
the ARM version with a bipod is seen more
often. AR stands for Assault Rifle. |
| The 7.62mm version of the Galil AR. It has
a longer barrel and a greater
range than
the 5.56mm version. Like the
SAR in 7.62mm,
it is not widely used. |
| The support variant of the Galil AR. It comes
standard with a bipod and a carrying handle.
It's the best known variant of the Galil
series. |
| The Galil ARM in 7.62mm. It's based upon
the Galil AR in 7.62mm. |
| The sniper rifle variant is only offered
in 7.62mm. Most people say it's
a bad sniper
rifle, I say it's a good rifle
for a marksman.
It fills the gap between a scoped
assault
rifle and a bolt-action sniper
rifle. It's
the first of a new weapon type.
Comparable
weapons are the M21, MSG90 and
SR-25. |
PERFORMANCE
The Galil is known to be an inaccurate weapon.
That is not true. The Galil AR(M) is one
of the most accurate 5.56mm weapons in existence.
The SAR, however, has a too short barrel
to be a standard infantry rifle. It's a carbine
and has a performance quite equal to the
American M4. The SAR has a maximum range
of 300 meters, which is the same as the AK-47
and that is a very short range indeed, compared
to other 5.56mm assault rifles. The Galil
is very sand proof, doesn't jam and is very
robust. The barrel of the Galil heats up
very quickly. The wooden forearm of the Galil
ARM allows the shooter to hold his weapon
while firing. Therefore the wooden forearm
is sometimes seen on the Galil SAR and AR.
The Galil is the first weapon family of which
all members have a foldable stock. In general,
the Galil rifles are fine weapons, but somewhat
heavy and expensive to manufacture.
USE
- All Galil variants in 5.56mm are being
used by the Israeli Defence Force. Only the
MAR is still used by the special forces.
In the regular army the Galil is being replaced
by the superior M4 and M16.
- The South African Defence Force uses the
Galil ARM, SAR and MAR, named R4, R5 and
R6.
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