Document: Assad's forces prefer old-fashioned machine guns

By George Hadad; Translation by Dani Murad

For many years, regime’s massive defense and military budget have severely limited expenditures in other areas vital to the nation's social, economic, and educational progress because it relied immensely on huge Russian arms purchases to obtain more ancient weapons that were stored for a long time until recently used against the Syrian people and not Israel.

A leaked official document issued by regime’s ministry of interior reveals that the officials in this ministry are total ignorant of the world’s latest developments in armament sector, particularly Russia, the largest provider of military ammunition and security in Syria for decades.

In a document obtained by Zaman Alwasl, directed from the department of administrative affairs to the Interior Minister Mohammed AL Shaar, dated 26/12/2012 , stating that the Russian company “Ross Aborun Export" has been addressed with a letter No. / 6767 / B from the army Insurance Office, to provide the ministry with a machine gun DShK / 12.7 / mm.

And the document proceeds:” on 14/11/2012 we received the company’s letter No / 9111 / 2-1759, which stated, that the Gun machine required is not manufactured by the Russian industry nor available in the Russian defense ministry’s warehouses, but the company can provide the ministry with Kord-12.7 mm machine gun as a substitute for the required one.

The document concluded to the suggestion of forming a committee to study the technical offer of Kord 12.7 mm, and address the needs of Internal Security Forces’ units, and finally correspond with the army Insurance Office to explain the needs in case the alternative machine gun was accepted.

Mohammed Al Shaar, Minister of Interior issued an administrative order to form the committee composed of four officers , headed by the Chief of armament branch in the ministry, to study the technical offer of ( Kord ) / 12.7 / produced by the Russian company ( Ross Aburon Export ) as a substitute for (DShK) .

Undoubtedly, these two documents proved the ignorance of the ministry of interior and the army insurance office of the necessary knowledge and the latest updates in military industry, in addition to their poor follow-up of their affair, although it is at the heart of their duties.

Moreover, the prolonged period between the first letter of (requesting DShK) and receiving the company’s reply, and then forming the committee to study the specifications of the alternative machine gun (Kord), took months of complicated entangled correspondences, which could have been saved with little access to armament information, especially when Russia’s halt of DShK’s production is not a military secret anymore.

On the other hand, one can understand the ministry’s insistence on obtaining outdated weapons, as a kind of harmony with old familiar things to avoid the phobia of dealing with new weapons, which can cause a lot of embarrassment and pitfalls to regime’s army and security forces who are known for their lack of training or Comprehending to new armament’s data.

These forces are occupied with other “priorities”, including enslaving, humiliating, and violating Syrians’ privacy, as well as stealing their money and property.

It’s also noteworthy that even weapons’ formal professional names are not known for them, for example “DShK” is the accurate name used by specialists for the gun machine and not “Dushka ," which is the nickname name that means (lit. "Sweetie", "Dear")

DShK is a Soviet heavy machine gun firing the 12.7× mm cartridge. The weapon was produced in 1938 before World War II and also used as a heavy infantry and anti-aircraft machine gun.

The weapon took its name from its designers Vasily Degtyaryov, who designed the original weapon, and Georgi Shpagin, who improved the cartridge feed mechanism.

This machine gun was widespread in the middle East and gained so much appreciation by the armies of the Third World, including Arab armies which for decades depended in their armament on Eastern Bloc countries, and praised the advantages of this soviet product in the forties and fifties of the last century, and consequently insisted on accumulating more unused quantities of it, as if time for these armies has frozen at those years.

Eventually, Russia stopped the production of “DShK”, while China, Pakistan and Iran continue to manufacture it.

Among the tactical and technical specifications of this machine gun , the following:

Cartridge machine gun : 12.7 mm .

Length: 1,625 mm

Feed system: 50 round belt

Weight: 34 kg (74.96 lb)

Machine gun crew: two people.

Thickness of shield penetrated from a distant of 500 meters: 16 mm.

Horizontal firing range: (according to model) : between 2000 and 3500 meters .

Altitude air targets that can be hit (according to model) : between 1,000 and 2,500 meters .

Finally, the price of one machine gun , " DShK " in regular market close to $ 2,300