The Distribution of Iranian Ammunition in Africa - Conflict Armament ...

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF IRANIAN AMMUNITION TRANSFERSImage 3Iranian 7.62 x 54R mmcartridgeNotes: Precise date and placeof documentation withheldfor reasons of confidentiality.The ammunition is packed inquantities of 20 rounds intocardboard boxes. Each greenbattle bag contains ten suchboxes, totalling 200 cartridgesper bag.Source: ConfidentialThe third type of ammunition is 7.62 x 54R mmin calibre and marked in the same format as thefirst type of 7.62 x 39 mm examples. As Image 3illustrates, it also features a calibre designation(‘7.62 x 54’) at the 12 o’clock position and a datemark at six o’clock. In this example, the date mark‘01’ indicates manufacture in 2001.The cartridge conforms to the manufacturingspecifications of ‘7.62 x 54 heavy’ provided by Iran’sDIO. 4 Annex 2 of this report provides technicalinformation from physical samples held by ConflictArmament Research. 5None of the cartridges pictured above is markedwith factory identifying information. While mostSoviet-calibre ammunition (e.g. Russian or Chineseproduction) features a two- or three-digit code toindicate the factory of manufacture, the Iranianexamples do not. This is the primary reason why,when first documenting these types of ammunition,investigators did not identify them as Iranian.A second reason is that, although now beginningto grow in scope and detail, literature on Iranianammunition was previously very limited.Additionally, early investigations found mostsamples of this ammunition unboxed—whetherfound on the battlefield, repacked into bags ortaken from the magazines of users. It was not untilinvestigators began to document ammunitionpackaging in shipments proven to have originatedin Iran that they were able to identify the cartridgesas being of Iranian manufacture.PACkAGINGIranian small-calibre ammunition packaging—whether for 7.62 x 39 mm or 7.62 x 54R mm—consists of several components. These componentsare pictured in Image 4 and include an outerwooden box, green plastic ‘battle bags’ andcardboard sub-units.Image 4Iranian 7.62 x 39 mmammunition box andcontentsNotes: The box contains 1,0007.62 x 39 mm cartridges. Thecartridges are identical inconstruction to those picturedin Image 1 and feature theheadstamp markings ‘7.62 x39’ at the 12 o’clock positionand ‘94’ at six o’clock.Source: ConfidentialConflict Armament ResearchThe Distribution of Iranian Ammunition in Africa: Evidence from a Nine-country Investigation 13