Expanded, Second Edition

Collector reference on book on FN Mauser rifles

In 1974, renowned Belgian arms company Fabrique Nationale brought out a ground-breaking new light machine gun, the Minimi. Its success has been meteoric, arming more than 45 countries around the world. The Minimi offers the ultimate in portable firepower. Firing the high-velocity 5.56×45mm round, the Minimi is a gas-operated, lightweight, belt- or magazine-fed weapon, able to burn through cartridges at a cyclical rate of up to 1,150 rounds per minute, making it the weapon of choice for fire support at squad level. This study uses gripping first-hand accounts and striking combat photographs, following the Minimi to war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. It tracks its design and development, as well as investigating what has made it so compelling a choice for armed forces around the world for more than 40 years.

In this work the authors develop a decomposition theory for subgroups of Out(Fn) which generalizes the decomposition theory for individual elements of Out(Fn) found in the work of Bestvina, Feighn, and Handel, and which is analogous to the decomposition theory for subgroups of mapping class groups found in the work of Ivanov.

For six decades, the 7.62mm FN MAG has been a dominant general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) in worldwide arsenals. Three qualities have guaranteed this enduring status – reliability, ease of operation, and firepower. Several nations have license-produced the weapon as their standard GPMG, including the British (as the L7) and the Americans (M240), and in total more than 80 nations have adopted the FN MAG. The machine gun has also been modified extensively for vehicular, naval, and aircraft platforms, demonstrating versatility in the air, on sea, and on land. In this book, Chris McNab charts the technical evolution of this extraordinary weapon, created by Belgian company Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal. From the jungles of South East Asia, to the deserts of the Middle East, and the icy battlefields of the Falklands, this study explores the origins, development, combat use, and legacy of the FN MAG machine gun, a dominant weapon in its field for more than a half-century.

Of all the infantry small arms developed during World War II, one that generated the most interest was the German 'assault rifle', the StG 44 Sturmgewehr. This innovative weapon inspired the Soviet AK-47 in 7.62x39mm calibre. In the West, the NATO countries looked hard at new weapons to upgrade their own infantry arsenals and counter the AK-47, resulting in the design of the Fusil Automatique Léger or FAL. It proved to be a successful battle rifle and was soon adopted by the military and police forces of no fewer than 93 nations. The FAL dominated the militaries of the West to such a degree that its nickname became the Right Arm of the Free World. The FAL fulfilled every role it was asked to perform and remains a viable and well-respected weapon to this day.

ARES Field Guide No.1 focuses on identifying and tracing Belgian FN Herstal FAL rifles, and provides key information on factory markings and physical characteristics. The guide further describes the primary variants produced by FN Herstal in Belgium, discusses FAL rifles documented in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region, and looks at some of the factors involved in their illicit diversion, using the ongoing conflict in Syria as a case study. Field Guide No. 1 is supported by Research Note No. 9 – Estimating Year of Production for FAL Rifles, and the accompanying FAL Year of Production Estimator online tool, which calculates the likely year of production for a given FN Herstal FAL serial number.