Interest in special-warfare armaments on the rise.

A growing attraction to special-warfare, commando-style weaponry was evident at the 2002 Eurosatory arms exhibition in France. Russia and Israel, among the 39 countries represented at the show, displayed several technologies that are aimed for that market.

Noteworthy to small-arms experts at the show was a Russian 9 x 21 mm armor-piercing cartridge made with a steel core. Even though the cartridge is not new, it is now being sold as a weapon system" along with an automatic pistol and a compact submachine gun, both of which can fire the same cartridge. The cartridges and the guns have been sold separately for at least a decade, but now are marketed as a set.

The ammo was developed by Russia's Tsniitochmash engineering bureau, often referred to as "Technomash" by foreigners who cannot pronounce the Russian name.

The target customers for this weapon are special-operations forces.

"It's a nasty cartridge. It will go through Kevlar armor like a knife through butter," said Terry Gander, editor of Jane's small arms encyclopedia.

Current users of the cartridge include the Russian internal-security forces.

Another ammunition firm seeking to expand its international business is Israel's government-owned weapon manufacturing company, called IMI (Israeli Military Industries). Industry observers have been waiting for IMI's new family of assault rifles, called Tavor, to become operational with the Israeli Army.

The Tavor has been touted by small-arms experts as a state-of-the-art rifle. However, observers questioned why the weapon is not yet in production.

About 100 rifles were delivered to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), for developmental testing, said IMI's Levy Schmnel. He said the company expects to be producing the weapon in the near future. IMI officials are hoping that Tavor will become the modern equivalent of the Uzi, which IMI produced in the 1950s.

That may take a long while, said Gander. "Tavor is a very good weapon. But it's not yet in production, mainly because the Israeli Defense Forces got a shed-load of M-16s from the United States for nothing."

IMI began as an underground operation in 1933, before Israel even existed as a nation. In 1990, it was acquired by the government, but now is in the process of being privatized, said Menachem Misgav, IMI's director of communications.

Another Israeli weapons maker, Rafael, is trying to garner interest in its line of munitions specially designed for urban warfare. At Eurosatory, the company promoted a door-breaching rifle grenade and a shoulder-launched, wall-breaching standoff munition. The door breacher, called Simon, also is known as the rifled-launched entry munition (RIEM), which the U.S. Army purchased from Rafael. The Army bought the weapon for special-warfare infantry units. Rafael also plans to market the Simon to the U.S. Marine Corps. The Israeli special forces have used this weapon for at least a decade.

Rafael expects to expand its sales to U.S. customers, said Avishay Regev, deputy general manager at Rafael.

General Dynamics Armaments Systems is the U.S. licensee and prime contractor for all RLEM sales to the U.S. military and law enforcement markets.

The Simon is a self-contained unit with a shaped-explosive charge in a plastic housing, standoff rod, stabilizing tail and impact detonator. It can be mounted on a variety of rifles. After the munition is fired, the faze is armed only at the designated safety distance. When the rod hits the door, the impact detonator initiates the charge, which blasts down the door.

Another weapon that Rafael is selling for urban warfare is the wall-breaching standoff munition, able to crack open a man-size hole in layered brick walls. The WBSM is fired from a tripod now, but Rafael is modifying it to be shoulder fired, so its more attractive to U.S. buyers. The fuze is armed at a predetermined safety distance (about 40-50 meters). When the standoff rod impinges the wall, the impact detonator activates the charge, which breaches the wall.

The WBSM is competing for the Marine Corps' upgrade of the shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon. The weapon already has been tested by the U.S. Army, said Regev.