Estonia received the first batch of automatic rifles produced by the American company Lewis Machine & Tool Company (LMT), received the official Estonian designation R20 Rahe. It is reported by the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic.
22 July this year, at the military training ground in Männiku, an official presentation of the received rifles took place with the participation of the Commander of the Estonian Defense Forces, Major General Martin Herem. In the first batch, 1250 R20 Rahe automatic rifles as standard, 250 rifles TA-R20 in “sniper” execution and 70 40 mm M203 grenade launchers.
The R20 Rahe standard rifle is an LMT MLCPS rifle chambered for NATO 5,56 x 45 mm, a rifle TA-R20 – LMT CQBMWS rifle chambered for NATO 7,62 x 51 mm. The first new rifles to receive the Scout battalion (Scout Battalion) 1-1st Infantry Brigade of the Estonian Army, stationed in Tapa (now armed with Israeli Galil, obtained back in the early 90s). The 1st and 2nd Infantry Brigades will then be fully equipped with rifles.. Armament with new weapons of units is provided “Kaistelyta” (civil uprising), the police, Border Guard and units of the Estonian Ministry of Justice.
Contract with the American company Lewis Machine & Tool Company (LMT) The Estonian Defense Ministry concluded last summer. Under the agreement, the Estonian army will receive 16 thousand automatic rifles of calibers 5,56 and 7,62 mm. Contract value 75 million. dollars.
It should be noted, that currently the Estonian army is in service with very different small arms: Israeli Galil automatic rifles and Negev light machine guns chambered for 5,56 x 45 mm, received from Norway and Germany from the availability of automatic rifles chambered for 7.62x51 mm G3A3 and G3A4, from Sweden – if 4 (the same G3). There are a number of new German 5.56 mm G36 automatic rifles and MG4 light machine guns.
Automatic rifles MLCPS (under the auspices of NATO 5,56 x 45 mm) and CQBMWS (under the auspices of NATO 7,62 x 51 mm) are variations of Stoner's widespread AR family of designs, but with a patented upper receiver, made of a single monolithic aluminum structure, which ensures its increased rigidity.
