ARWEN 37

ARWEN 37
Place of origin United Kingdom
Service history
Used by British Army
Production history
Manufacturer Royal Small Arms Factory
Specifications
Weight 3.1 kg
Length 710 mm
Caliber 37 mm
Barrels 310 mm

The ARWEN 37 is a non-lethal launcher which fires 37 mm non-lethal rounds (foam or wooden or tear gas payload) designed for riot control. It has a 5-round rotary drum magazine. "ARWEN" is an acronym for "Anti Riot Weapon ENfield".

It was designed in 1977 by the British Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) Enfield, then part of the Royal Ordnance Factories. It came out of a British Military request for a multi-shot riot control weapon to replace the single-shot Federal Riot Gun. Three prototypes were designed and tested: one semi-automatic, one rotary-drum, and one pump-action. At the end of testing the rotary-drum model was put into production. The case has a rebated rim, so although the projectiles are comparable with other 37 mm riot control weapons, the loaded rounds are quite different.[1]

As of 2001, all ARWEN trademarks and patents are owned by Police Ordnance Company Inc. The weapon is manufactured under license in Canada.

Sage Control Ordnance, Inc., located in Oscoda, Michigan has been producing less-lethal 37 mm Sage Rifled (ARWEN 37 compatible) munitions since the 1991 for law enforcement use only. Current production includes the following 9 munition variants:

KO1 - Standard Impact Baton
KO2 - CS Smoke
KO3 - Irritant Impact Baton
KO4 - White & Colored Screening Smoke
BP5 - Irritant, Barricade Penetrating
KO6 - Irritant, Muzzle Blast
KO7 - Multi-Ball Area Impact
KO8 - Soft Tip Impact Baton
KO9 - Sub-caliber Training/Marking

Sage also produces a variety of projectile launchers chambered for 37 mm Sage Rifled (ARWEN 37 compatible) munitions.

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Anthony G Williams. "Less-lethal Ammunition".
Bibliography

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.