IMI Galil

Galil redirects here. For information on the region of Israel by this name, see Galilee.

The Galil is one of the standard assault rifles used by the Israel Defense Forces. It was designed by Yisrael Galili, and bears his name. It is a variant on the AK-47 design. It uses 5.56 mm NATO ammunition, like an M16, but is easier to manufacture like the Russian AK-47.

Contents

1 History
2 Usage
3 Variants
4 In Popular Culture
5 See also
6 External links
7 Manual

History

The Galil project began after the Six-Day War, and the design was selected by the IDF from two competing designs. The winner was based on the Finnish Rk 62 (itself a locally improved and further developed variant of the AK-47). The first rifles began to arrive in 1974, after the Yom Kippur War. The Galil was designed to be a domestically produced main battle rifle for the IDF, taking the best features of other rifles, such as the M16 and AK-47, and putting them into one rifle. That rifle could be adapted to any number of tasks. The result was the IMI Galil. The Galil was used by the infantry during the Lebanon War in 1982; but towards the mid-1980s, it was determined to be less than optimal.

Galil rifles were exported to various South American, African and Asian countries as well as to Estonia. The Galil of today has evolved into a much more reliable battle rifle than it was during its initial inception. The abusability and utilitarian nature of the design are perfect for the dry and sandy climate of the eastern Mediterranean.

Israel gave to Indumil (Colombia's National Military Industry), in the year 2006, the license to be the only producer of the Galil rifle in the world.

Usage

Estonian soldier with Galil ARM

The Galil's main problem is weight; it is heavier than the M16A1, at around 3.9 kg (8.6 lb) empty vs the M16A1's 2.9 kg (6.4 lb), and therefore often considered to be a greater burden as a personal weapon for infantrymen, although its short length due to the folding stock made it very popular with the troops (Galil 840/614 mm vs M16A1 986 mm). The weapon never caught on among Israel's numerous special forces units, who used AK-47s for reliability and deniability if dropped or captured. Fighting infantry units therefore were reissued M16s (new or upgraded to improve reliability and reduce weight). The Galil SAR's compactness resulted in it remaining a personal weapon for soldiers in armour and artillery units since its compact size does not get in the way of tank and self-propelled gun crews while using their main, crew-served ordnance.

The Galil includes a folding stock, tritium illuminated night sights, a bipod that can cut barbed wire, and even the unusual feature of an integrated bottle-opener to avoid damage to the rifle magazines through a previously common misuse of weapons to open beverage bottles by using the magazine orifice to twist the caps off.

Variants

Nowdays, there are a number of models used:

Galil ARM - the main version.
Galil SAR ("short") - no bipod or carry handle, shorter barrel.
Galil SNR ("sniper") - bipod, subsonic munition.
Galil MAR ("micro") - which retains the internal features with a completely new frame and even shorter barrel. It has been reported that this weapon is subject to severe overheating, becoming too hot to touch after sustained automatic fire. A redesigned version is now in service with Israeli special forces in undercover operations, small enough to conceal under a jacket, yet extremely powerful. A Galil MAR variant with a redesigned receiver and front sight is in widespread service with Israel's police.

Another version, the Galil AR, has a significantly longer barrel and fires heavier 7.62 × 51 mm ammunition and is intended to be used as a sniper or tactical rifle.

The South African R4, developed in 1982, is based on the Galil. This version was the base for some further variants, the R5, the R6 and a light machine gun.

In Popular Culture

It has been suggested that this section be [Merging and moving pagesmerged] into [List of firearms in films]. (:Wikipedia talk:List of firearms in films}}})

It has been suggested that this section be [Merging and moving pagesmerged] into [List of firearms in video games]. (:Wikipedia talk:List of firearms in video games}}})

Mercenary for Justice (2006) : Steven Segal used a Galil SAR
Heat (film) (1995) : Tom Sizemore used a Galil ARM in the bank robbery scene
The Galil appears in the computer game Counter-Strike as a terrorist-only rifle. Known as the IDF Defender, it was added in 1.6, then later in ' and '.
The Galil ARM appears in the game . In the game it can used as a light machine gun, with an optional 100 round drum magazine.
The Galil ARM appears in the game as a terrorist-only rifle. Known as Galil AR.
The R5 appears in the game as the choice assault rifle of Solid Snake. The Galil SAR and R5 are both useable weapons in Metal Gear Acid 2.

External links

Manual

[Nazarian's Gun's Recognition Guide (MANUAL) Galil ARM Manual (.pdf)]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.