EMERK Myanmar Assault Rifle

EMERK Assault Rifle

The EMERK is an assault rifle currently in standard issue in Myanmar as the EMERK-1 and EMERK-3. The EMERK-1 is a 5.56x45mm bullpup rifle roughly based on the Israeli Galil assault rifle with an AKM receiver.

Before 1988, the standard Myanmar infantry weapon was the 7.62x51mm-NATO BA-63 assault rifle, a locally-produced version of the early-model German Heckler & Koch G-3 battle rifle; the machineries were of German origin, and were sold to the Myanmar government by Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries,ltd.

Later during the 1970s and 1980s,the Myanmar Armed Forces decided to introduce the 5.56x45mm-NATO cartridge along the 7.62x51mm NATO in standard infantry service, and thus had to re-design their individual weapons; as platoon level support weapon was retained (and still is nowadays) the locally-manufactured 7.62x51mm general-purposes machine-gun: an indigenous clone of the Rheinmetall MG-3 GPMG.

MA-11

The new weapon system to enter in service obviously had to be obtained with the machineries already in Myanmar .What the engineers at Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries,ltd. and EMEC (Electrical and Mechanical and Engineering Corps of Myanmar Army) come out with was a local version of the HECKLER&KOCH HK 33 assault rifle system, obviously simplified in construction to fit with the means and the resources available.

Both the MA-11 and MA 12 are feed from M16-Style STANAG magazines,
From the beginning of 2002, 7.62x51mm BA-63 and BA-72 series rifles are gradually being replaced by a new series of 5.56x45mm MA-series automatic assault rifles in Myanmar Army's frontline units. This series of weapons (MA-1) is different from the MA-11/MA-12, and might be the result of some agreements between the Myanmar government and Israeli IMI consultants who visited the Country as early as in the year 1990s. The new MA series assault rifles are similar to the Israeli 5.56x45mm GALIL rifles, again re-engineered to fit the local manufacturing techniques and capabilities. With the introduction of EMERK-3 (MA-1) as service rifle for the Myanmar Army the MA-11 / MA-12 are being armed to the Myanmar Police Force; considerably an upgrade from its WW-II vintage .303 rifle.

EMERK-1

EMERK-1 is manufactured by EMEC and Myanmar Heavy Industries(MHI) . Before this, a Chinese company called NG CHUNG-KEUNG, subsidiary of NORINCO, had shipped to Myanmar under the governmental request some exemplars of the new NORINCO QBZ-97 5.56mm bull-pup assault rifle for evaluation. The Myanmar engineers were positively impressed by this weapon, but the communist Chinese government didn't really wanted to sell firearms to an extreme right-wing dictatorship, and thus the shipment of the new QBZ-97 rifles to Myanmar were halted and further ones completely canceled. 

So the Myanmar engineers took over the exemplars of QBZ-97 still illegally remaining on the country, and modified the project of the weapon to allow it to be manufactured with some minor modifications with the machineries they had, illegally sold to Myanmar by Singapore. It's also known that the EMERK-1 is slightly similar to the Steyr AUG, and the israeli IMI engineers who previously had worked to the IMI TAVOR project traveled to Myanmar to counsel their Myanmar colleagues; little is known about this EMERK-1 bull-pup rifle, except that it is in the hands of elite Myanmar troops, it's a "melange" of the Chinese NORINCO QBZ-97, the Singaporean ST-KINETICS SAR-21, the Austrian STEYR AUG and the Israeli IMI TAVOR, that it's manufactured in both AR and SAW variants .The EMERK-1 bull-pup rifle is feed from M16-Style STANAG magazines,

EMERK-3

The Myanmar troops that have it, especially governmental guards, don't like EMERK-1 because it's prone to jammings and stoppages. Instead, the main weapons system of the Myanmar Armed Forces is well liked by its users. The EMERK-3 Rifle System, is an illegal copy / updated version of the Israeli IMI GALIL assault rifle, manufactured under supervision of Israeli consultants and with the use of Israeli and Singaporean mahineries shipped to Burma in violation of the UN/USA embargo.


The EMERK-3 rifle is nothing but a GALIL rifle with fixed stock.It is also equipped with a BA-203 40mm grenade launcher, a slightly modified illegally produced version of the American M203 grenade launcher, machineries to manufacture which were also illegally shipped to Burma from USA companies. When mounted on the EMERK-3 rifle, this M203-lookalike grenade launcher features also a new barrel cover for the rifle, equipped with a grenade peepsight.

The EMERK-3 rifle is apparently identical to the IMI GALIL exception made for some very little external characteristics, so that the GALIL specifics are assumed to be valid for this rifle too.

The MA-3 carbine is a shortened copy of the EMERK-3 rifle, with a folding metal buttstock. The barrel is shorter that the one of the EMERK-3 rifle, and the similarities with the GALIL are much more pronounced. The MA-3 features a ventilated handguard.

The EMERK-3 rifle and the MA-3 carbine feed from GALIL-style 30-rounders.

Variants and Related Designs

Military

MA-11 variants

This system comprises two weapons:

1. MA-11 assault rifle and
2. MA-12 automatic rifle(squad light machinegun)

EMERK-3 variants

The new MA-series of assault rifles was previously tested by the Myanmar Army as the "EMERK-3". Now it consists in four models:

1. MA-1 assault rifle: locally-manufactured spawning of the Israeli GALIL rifle, with fixed stock.
2. MA-2 automatic rifle: Locally-manufactured spawning of the Israeli GALIL ARM heavy-barrelled automatic rifle.
3. MA-3 carbine: basically an MA-1 assault rifle equipped with a metal side-folding stock.
4. MA-4 grenadier weapon: basically an MA-1 assault rifle equipped with an under-Barrel 40x46-SR single-shot grenade launcher working in Single Action, whose design is heavily borrowed from the American M-203. The rifle and the grenade launcher are mated permanently, hence why the rifle/GL combo is considered a weapon on its own.

Typically, a Myanmar Army fire team will be armed with an MA-1 for rifleman (scout) ,an MA-2 for automatic rifleman (light machine gunner) ,an MA-3 for team leader and an MA-4 for grenadier.

Specifications

EMERK
TYPE	Assault Rifle Light Machine Gun
PLACE OF ORIGIN	Myanmar
PRODUCTION HISTORY
DESIGNER	EMEC(Electrical and Mechinical Engineering Corps)
MANUFACTURER	Myanmar Fritz Werner Industries,ltd.
VARIANTS	MA-1 assault rifle
SPECIFICATIONS
WEIGHT	4.5kg (Rifle) 5kg (LMG)
CARTRIDGE	5.56x45mm NATO
ACTION	Gas-operated, rotating bolt
RATE OF FIRE	650rpm
EFFECTIVE RANGE	400m
FEED SYSTEM	30 round STANAG Magazine
SIGHTS	Iron