EMERK
Encyclopedia
The EMERK is a rifle currently in standard issue in Myanmar
as the EMERK-1 and EMERK-3. The EMERK-1 is a 5.56x45mm bullpup
rifle roughly based on the British L98 rifle with the same receiver.
G-3
battle rifle; the machineries were of German origin, and were sold to the Myanmar government by Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries,ltd.
Later during the 1970s and 1980s,the Myanmar Armed Forces decided to introduce the 5.56x45mm-NATO cartridge along the 7.62x51mm NATO in standard infantry service, and thus had to re-design their individual weapons; as platoon level support weapon was retained (and still is nowadays) the locally-manufactured 7.62x51mm general-purposes machine-gun: an indigenous clone of the Rheinmetall MG-3 GPMG.
Both the MA-11 and MA 12 are feed from NATO STANAG magazines,
From the beginning of 2002, 7.62x51mm BA-63 and BA-72 series rifles are gradually being replaced by a new series of 5.56x45mm MA-series automatic assault rifles in Myanmar Army's frontline units. This series of weapons (MA-1) is different from the MA-11/MA-12, and might be the result of some agreements between the Myanmar government and Israeli IMI consultants who visited the Country as early as in the year 1990s. The new MA series assault rifles are similar to the Israeli 5.56x45mm GALIL rifles, again re-engineered to fit the local manufacturing techniques and capabilities. With the introduction of EMERK-3 (MA-1) as service rifle for the Myanmar Army the MA-11 / MA-12 are being armed to the Myanmar Police Force; considerably an upgrade from its WW-II vintage .303 rifle.
So the Myanmar engineers took over the exemplars of QBZ-97 still remaining on the country, and modified the project of the weapon to allow it to be manufactured with some minor modifications with the tools they had bought from Singapore. It's also known that the EMERK-1 is slightly similar to the Steyr AUG, and the israeli IMI engineers who previously had worked to the IMI TAVOR project traveled to Myanmar to counsel their Myanmar colleagues; little is known about this EMERK-1 bull-pup rifle, except that it is in the hands of elite Myanmar troops, it's a "melange" of the Chinese NORINCO QBZ-97, the Singaporean ST-KINETICS SAR-21, the Austrian STEYR AUG and the Israeli IMI TAVOR, that it's manufactured in both AR and SAW variants .The EMERK-1 bull-pup rifle is feed from M16-Style STANAG magazines,
The EMERK-3 rifle is nothing but a GALIL rifle with fixed stock.It is also equipped with a BA-203 40mm grenade launcher, a slightly modified version of the American M203 grenade launcher, machineries to manufacture which were shipped to Burma from USA companies in violation of USA law. When mounted on the EMERK-3 rifle, this M203-lookalike grenade launcher features also a new barrel cover for the rifle, equipped with a grenade peepsight.
The EMERK-3 rifle is apparently identical to the IMI GALIL exception made for some very little external characteristics, so that the GALIL specifics are assumed to be valid for this rifle too.
The MA-3 carbine is a shortened copy of the EMERK-3 rifle, with a folding metal buttstock. The barrel is shorter that the one of the EMERK-3 rifle, and the similarities with the GALIL are much more pronounced. The MA-3 features a ventilated handguard.
The EMERK-3 rifle and the MA-3 carbine feed from GALIL-style 30-rounders.
Typically, a Myanmar Army fire team will be armed with an MA-1 for rifleman (scout) ,an MA-2 for automatic rifleman (light machine gunner) ,an MA-3 for team leader and an MA-4 for grenadier.
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
as the EMERK-1 and EMERK-3. The EMERK-1 is a 5.56x45mm bullpup
Bullpup
Bullpups are firearm configurations in which the action is located behind the trigger group and alongside the shooter's face, so there is no wasted space for the buttstock as in conventional designs. This permits a shorter firearm length for the same barrel length for improved maneuverability, and...
rifle roughly based on the British L98 rifle with the same receiver.
Development
Before 1988, the standard Myanmar infantry weapon was the 7.62x51mm-NATO BA-63 assault rifle, a locally-produced version of the early-model German Heckler & KochHeckler & Koch
Heckler & Koch GmbH is a German defense manufacturing company that produces various small arms. Some of their products include the SA80, MP5 submachine gun, G3 automatic rifle, the G36 assault rifle, the HK 416, the MP7 personal defense weapon, the USP series of handguns, and the high-precision...
G-3
Heckler & Koch G3
The G3 is a 7.62mm battle rifle developed in the 1950s by the German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned design and development agency CETME ....
battle rifle; the machineries were of German origin, and were sold to the Myanmar government by Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries,ltd.
Later during the 1970s and 1980s,the Myanmar Armed Forces decided to introduce the 5.56x45mm-NATO cartridge along the 7.62x51mm NATO in standard infantry service, and thus had to re-design their individual weapons; as platoon level support weapon was retained (and still is nowadays) the locally-manufactured 7.62x51mm general-purposes machine-gun: an indigenous clone of the Rheinmetall MG-3 GPMG.
MA-11
The new weapon system to enter in service obviously had to be obtained with the machineries already in Myanmar. What the engineers at Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries Ltd. and EMEC (Electrical and Mechanical and Engineering Corps of Myanmar Army) come out with was a local version of the Heckler & Koch HK 33 assault rifle system, obviously simplified in construction to fit with the means and the resources available.Both the MA-11 and MA 12 are feed from NATO STANAG magazines,
From the beginning of 2002, 7.62x51mm BA-63 and BA-72 series rifles are gradually being replaced by a new series of 5.56x45mm MA-series automatic assault rifles in Myanmar Army's frontline units. This series of weapons (MA-1) is different from the MA-11/MA-12, and might be the result of some agreements between the Myanmar government and Israeli IMI consultants who visited the Country as early as in the year 1990s. The new MA series assault rifles are similar to the Israeli 5.56x45mm GALIL rifles, again re-engineered to fit the local manufacturing techniques and capabilities. With the introduction of EMERK-3 (MA-1) as service rifle for the Myanmar Army the MA-11 / MA-12 are being armed to the Myanmar Police Force; considerably an upgrade from its WW-II vintage .303 rifle.
EMERK-1
EMERK-1 is manufactured by EMEC and Myanmar Heavy Industries(MHI) . Before this, a Chinese company called NG CHUNG-KEUNG, subsidiary of NORINCO, had shipped to Myanmar under the governmental request some exemplars of the new NORINCO QBZ-97 5.56mm bull-pup assault rifle for evaluation. The Myanmar engineers were positively impressed by this weapon, but the communist Chinese government didn't really wanted to sell firearms to an extreme right-wing dictatorship, and thus the shipment of the new QBZ-97 rifles to Myanmar were halted and further ones completely canceled.So the Myanmar engineers took over the exemplars of QBZ-97 still remaining on the country, and modified the project of the weapon to allow it to be manufactured with some minor modifications with the tools they had bought from Singapore. It's also known that the EMERK-1 is slightly similar to the Steyr AUG, and the israeli IMI engineers who previously had worked to the IMI TAVOR project traveled to Myanmar to counsel their Myanmar colleagues; little is known about this EMERK-1 bull-pup rifle, except that it is in the hands of elite Myanmar troops, it's a "melange" of the Chinese NORINCO QBZ-97, the Singaporean ST-KINETICS SAR-21, the Austrian STEYR AUG and the Israeli IMI TAVOR, that it's manufactured in both AR and SAW variants .The EMERK-1 bull-pup rifle is feed from M16-Style STANAG magazines,
EMERK-3
The Myanmar troops that have it, especially governmental guards, don't like EMERK-1 because it's prone to jammings and stoppages. Instead, the main weapons system of the Myanmar Armed Forces is well liked by its users. The EMERK-3 Rifle System, is an updated version of the Israeli IMI GALIL assault rifle, manufactured under supervision of Israeli consultants and with the use of Israeli and Singaporean mahineries shipped to Burma in violation of the UN/USA embargo.The EMERK-3 rifle is nothing but a GALIL rifle with fixed stock.It is also equipped with a BA-203 40mm grenade launcher, a slightly modified version of the American M203 grenade launcher, machineries to manufacture which were shipped to Burma from USA companies in violation of USA law. When mounted on the EMERK-3 rifle, this M203-lookalike grenade launcher features also a new barrel cover for the rifle, equipped with a grenade peepsight.
The EMERK-3 rifle is apparently identical to the IMI GALIL exception made for some very little external characteristics, so that the GALIL specifics are assumed to be valid for this rifle too.
The MA-3 carbine is a shortened copy of the EMERK-3 rifle, with a folding metal buttstock. The barrel is shorter that the one of the EMERK-3 rifle, and the similarities with the GALIL are much more pronounced. The MA-3 features a ventilated handguard.
The EMERK-3 rifle and the MA-3 carbine feed from GALIL-style 30-rounders.
MA-11 variants
This system comprises two weapons:- MA-11 assault rifle and
- MA-12 automatic rifle(squad light machinegun)
EMERK-3 variants
The new MA-series of assault rifles was previously tested by the Myanmar Army as the "EMERK-3". Now it consists in four models:- MA-1 assault rifle: locally-manufactured spawning of the Israeli GALIL rifle, with fixed stock.
- MA-2 automatic rifle: Locally-manufactured spawning of the Israeli GALIL ARM heavy-barrelled automatic rifle.
- MA-3 carbine: basically an MA-1 assault rifle equipped with a metal side-folding stock.
- MA-4 grenadier weapon: basically an MA-1 assault rifle equipped with an under-Barrel 40x46-SR single-shot grenade launcher working in Single Action, whose design is heavily borrowed from the American M-203. The rifle and the grenade launcher are mated permanently, hence why the rifle/GL combo is considered a weapon on its own.
Typically, a Myanmar Army fire team will be armed with an MA-1 for rifleman (scout) ,an MA-2 for automatic rifleman (light machine gunner) ,an MA-3 for team leader and an MA-4 for grenadier.
Sources
- V. Kenneth. Burmese Small Arms Development. Small Arms Review, August 2009. Pg. 79
- Burma Making Small Arms. The Irrawaddy. AUGUST, 1998 - VOLUME 6 NO.4
External links
- EMERK-3 rifle and MA-1 carbine, SecurityArms.com