You could be forgiven for glancing at the above photograph and thinking the assault rifle was an AK of some description. In fact it is an Israeli produced Galil.
It is believed that Yisrael Galil fought with the British Army in World War 2 and was involved with the Haganah, where he got involved in weapons manufacture. He started work with Israeli arms manufacturer IMI and had a hand in the development of the Uzi in the fifties, eventually becoming known as the "Father of the Rifle".
The Israeli Defence Force used the FN FAL for many years but it was less than ideal for the conditions they found themselves fighting in and during the Six Day War in 1967, the Israeli forces captured a number of AK47s from the enemy and were able to evaluate them. Pleased with what they saw, the IDF decided to search for a new weapon and invited proposals. There were evaluations with a number of foreign contenders, but in the end, they went with a submission from Galil, which was based on the AK47 design, but chambered for the lighter 5.56mm ammunition.
There followed a number of improvements and modifications including a dalliance with components from the Finnish Valmet rifle. Since the sixties, there have been a lot of Galil variations and although it was initially based on the AK47, today it bears only a passing resemblance with no component commonality.
The same maker, now called IWI, currently produce the AR Assault Rifle which is chambered for 5.56mm NATO rounds and two other versions of the rifle, the SAR shortened version and the Micro version.
IWI also make a 7.62mm Galil for export only.
There is a 7.62mm sniper version called the SNIPER SA which has Harris bipod and a Nimrod X10 sight.
IWI is a member of the SK Group, which also owns Meprolight Ltd. (Electro-Optic systems), Pulse Inteco Systems Ltd. (Lasers and Night Vision systems) and Uni-scope Ltd. (Optical periscopes), so they have access to the full package.
In addition to the IDF, users include the Estonian military and the South African Defence Force. Many South American forces use a version of the Galil manufactured by Indumil in Colombia or the Galil Ace rifle.
