Tavor TAR-21

   The Tavor TAR-21 assault rifle was developed by Israel Military Industries (IMI) in the early 1990s. The TAR-21 stands for Tavor Assault Rifle for 21st century. It was first publicly revealed in 1998. This weapon had been tested by the Israel Defense Forces during 1999 - 2002. It was adopted to service in 2006 and replaced the M16A1, CAR-15 and Galil assault rifles. Currently it is in widespread use with the IDF and within the next few years it will become a standard infantry rifle. Export operators are Columbia, Georgia, Guatemala, India, Portugal and Thailand. In the nearest future this weapon will be license-produced in Brazil and Ukraine.

   It is a gas operated, selective fire assault rifle with a bullpup design. It is chambered for a standard NATO 5.56 x 45 mm ammunition. Initially there were some teething problems with this weapon, however it seems that many early problems have been fixed. Some sources report that the TAR-21 is much more accurate and reliable than the M4 carbine.

   Design of this weapon is based on ergonomics and composite materials. It is reported that this assault rifle is comfortable to hold and to fire. Enlarged triggerguard allows to fire while wearing winter gloves.

   The Tavor assault rifle is fully ambidextrous. There are spent case ejection ports on both sides, above the pistol grip. Right or felt side ejection can be selected. A safety / fire mode selector is also located on both sides. It has a semi-automatic mode, burst mode and full-auto mode. The charging handle slots are cut on the both sides, so it can be installed on either side. After partial disassembly this assault rifle can be easily reconfigured for left-handed shooters.

   The Tavor is fed from standard NATO (M16-type) magazines, holding 30 rounds.

   This assault rifle comes with red-dot sight as a prime sighting equipment. Early production models had no backup sights. This weapon has a standard Picatinny-type rail and is compatible with various scopes or night vision systems.

   This assault rifle is compatible with the M203 40-mm automatic grenade launcher.

Variants

   Tavor CTAR-21 compact assault rifle, fitted with a shorter barrel;

   Tavor MTAR-21 even more compact assault rifle, also referred as the Micro Tavor. This weapon can be converted to 9 x 19 mm ammunition, using a caliber conversion kit. Sound suppressor comes as standard with this conversion kit;

   Tavor STAR-21 a dedicated marksman version, fitted with a folding bipod and Trijicon ACOG 4x magnification optical sight;

   Tavor TC-21 civilian semi-automatic version.