ANA to get C7s? from the Globe and Mail 13 Aug 2007

[Blakey]

CP Video report. 03 Jan 2008
http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?main=broadcast&bcid=831&cpvid=1

Description:

After a frustratingly long three-year wait, the fledging Afghan National Army finally has a new weapon in its arsenal: the Canadian C7 rifle. Some 42 boxes of surplus weapons arrived at the ANA base just up the road from Kandahar Airfield last week, Brig.-Gen. Gul Aqa said Wednesday in an interview with The Canadian Press. And training is already underway. Aimed at replacing the Afghan army's old Soviet-era AK-47s in order to bring the force's fire power capabilities in line with that of NATO countries, the Canadian rifles are a welcome addition, Aqa said. "They're very modern and new weapons and the C7 is a real necessity for the ANA," he said through a translator. He said the AK-47s often jam, leaving soldiers vulnerable to enemy fire. "It's the difference between old and new." It's a project that's been in the works for several years.

 

[geo]

Oik..... the AKs jam?

and ours don't?

Guess our troops go thru their IAs and stoppages drills so quickly that it appears like we don't have?

I dunno- sounds unreal!

 

[1feral1]

AK's often jam!

Anotehr politically correct statement pulled out of his arse!

In all my time on the AK (since 1980), I have never seen one chuck a stoppage.

Even some of the batlefield pickups I played with, and shot fired well.

Dust, sand, overall poor maintenance and lube on the C7 will have the ANA wondering after a while. If they treat the C7's like their AKs, there will be problems. Don't lose your FP retaining pins troops  !

Cheers,

Wes

 

[The Bread Guy]

Reviving necrothread with latest:  CF taking back donated rifles - this from the Canadian Press:

The Afghan National Army has given back thousands of assault rifles donated by Canada several years ago in a $9-million effort to bring the fledgling fighting force up to speed.

The 2,500 modified, surplus C-7 rifles, mostly vintage 1980s weapons, were delivered to the Afghan military amid much fanfare between 2007 and 2008.

But with a renewed focus on training, NATO has quietly decided that the entire Afghan force should be equipped with American M-16s, of which the C-7 is a variant.

"The M-16 provided by the United States is very similar to the C-7, however their parts are not interchangeable," said Maj. Andre Salloum, an Ottawa-based spokesman for Canada's overseas command.

"As such, the decision was made to recover the C-7 weapons and return them to Canada for disposal."

It was the Afghans who, early in the war, asked for NATO weapons. Their soldiers carried leftover Soviet AK-47s, which are heavier and far less accurate than the family of North American rifles preferred by the North American military.

Canada, as part of its plan to train the Afghan army, donated 2,500 used rifles that had already been slated for disposal. They were modified with a shorter butt to accommodate the slightly smaller stature of soldiers in Afghanistan.

The donation itself was pocket change, relatively speaking — about $2.9 million. The real cost was in shipping the weapons and supplying ammunition, not to mention the training time that went into showing the Afghan soldiers how to use the rifles ....