Any idea of IRA’S armament ??? I know about AR-18 but i would like any more information you have
Well, last I heard, (for what its worth) they were using whatever they could acquire that served them. Once years ago a man came to my gun shop, and purchased all the .357 mag pistols I had. He did this several times. The ATF locals said to go ahead and sell them, as long as the sales were legitimate, I.D., paperwork, and multi sale reporting etc. They had an idea this man was a buyer for the I.R.A., but needed to investigate to be sure. They never informed me of their findings, but the man never returned.
The majority is Soviet-designed weaponry given by Libya in the 1980s (notably Semtex, a Czech product). The rest consists of weaponry obtained legally or otherwise in the US, improvised weapons (notably mortars and VBIEDs - the IRA manufactured nearly all of these in-house) and a small amount stolen in the UK or Irish Republic.
I thought they were largely DISarmed… God, I hope they are…
pdf is correct. But the “Armalite” was mainly the M-16, not the AR-18 which never existed in large numbers anyways…
They also had a collection of antiquated weapons such as Thompson sub-machine-guns and Lee Enfields. This in addition to a number of various side-arms which are useful to terrorists/guerrillas…
What is the Irish republican army?
Is this official army of Ireland?No.
I think this is pretty gang of partisans rathe than army and as any partisan group they use whatever they might stole, grab and buy .
Once i watched the film where the IRA used the even RPG-7 agains column of Brits.
They’re a Marxist terrorist group with the ambition of uniting the island of Ireland under their rule in a one-party state. I’m not aware of them using RPG-7s on any occasions however.
Yes. I was fired-on on two occasions back in '72 - '73 (nothing personal :)). That was when the mesh, anti-rocket screens were placed around key points.
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA - Provies) were a splinter from the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA - Stickies). The OIRA decided around '69 not to pursue their aims by use of violence (Neither of these groups were anything to do with the defence forces of the Irish Republic of Eire).
The Provies also had some 0.5 clibre Brownings and an assortment of rifles. Their preferred weapon was the AR18 Armalite. Quite a lot of their weaponry was kept in storage - not used during the campaign - ready for any major conflict with the Protestant para-militaries. one of their main proaganda objectives was to shoot down a British Army helicopter, but I forget which SAM system they possessed.
Both the Provies and the Stickies were, and are, Republican para-military groups.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Ulster Defence Association (UDA), Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) and others were Loyalist or Protestant para-militaries. All of them illegal associations and considered ‘terrorist’ organisations by the British.
Well Chevan i dont agree with you . You mean they are insurgents right ??? You read about Somalia they used to buy guns , not to steel them , AK-47 , G3 , FN’s and other guns . Hope you understand these things the way i write them
In reality, each of these groups are racketeers. They each rule their turf with harsh, disciplinary measures. The preferred punishment for minor offences in republican areas is ‘knee-capping’ (the bullet is usually shot through the knee from the back - some chap had a mishap when he shot into a knee-cap in the Lower Falls, they have been known to use power drills when seriously pissed-off). More serious crimes receive the death sentence and the bodies usally turn up in some roadside ditch. I do recall young girls being tarred and feathered for smiling at soldiers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6966493.stm
The estimates on the types and numbers of weapons acquired by the IRA over the course of the current Troubles (i.e. since 1969) can be found here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/inside/weapons.html#table1
It pretty much corresponds with the Decommissioning bodies comments (they have not released a full inverntory, but have made mention of certain types that they saw), and the Security Forces estimates.
Marxist?
Never heard about their marxsis or pro-communist roots.
If so the SOviet propogand would PRed them as the "brave insugrents group that fight for social independence… " and other bulsh…t. But i never heard the Soviet Mass media even hinted at it.
The AR-18 is a cheap and sleazy rifle. Intended as a low-cost alternative weapon for countries that could not afford the latest Western rifles, it never achieved commercial success, but it has won a nasty reputation as a terrorist weapon, particularly in the hands of the Provisional IRA. Despite its pressed steel receiver and spot welds, it is a highly effective 5.56-mm rifle. The gun can be broken down for concealment without ruining the zeroing, so it can be pulled out of hiding and used immediately and accurately.
They particularly liked the folding-butt version as it was easier to conceal.
http://www.weaponryonline.com/Reviews-req-showcontent-id-15.html
Not all Marxist organisations were linked with the Soviet Union, nor supported by them. The Official Irish Republican Army was and still is Marxist, in the sense of the 1960s development of western socialist ideology (with it’s own interpretation of euro-communism).
The Provisional IRA was and still is an amalgamation of socialistic and religious ideologies, but based upon direct action. Religous sectarianism is at the core of it’s rationale but its political manifestos are laced by visions of socialistic ideals rather than catholic religious fundamentalism.
However, the IRA was always pragmatic and it’s affiliations, going back most of the C20th would raise eyebrows. Infact, it was more successfulin interesting the Germans in supporting their cause than in interesting the Soviet Union.
Yeah, should have remembered that. Still, given that I wasn’t born until 1980 some things do tend to be a tadge remote 
Couple of possible reasons for that. The most likely is simply that they were the wrong type of Marxist - the Soviets were never keen on encouraging Communist revolutions where the wrong type of Communist (i.e. one who wouldn’t follow their instructions) was in charge. Hence if the IRA were ideologically closer to say Tito or Mao they wouldn’t get Soviet support.
The other possibility is that they were simply scared of giving non-Russian nationalities within the Soviet Union the idea that taking up an “armed struggle” for independence from the Soviet Union was possible. Given that the Soviet Union had perpetual problems with unruly nationalities within it (e.g. the Chechens today), I can see them being less than keen on supporting an organisation like the IRA.
Quite. Which can produce some funny moments, as when Sinn Fein’s* official ambassador to Cuba was arrested with a couple of known IRA bomb-makers while on a visit to the FARC narco-terrorist group in Columbia. Funnily enough this didn’t go down well with the United States!
- Sinn Fein are the political wing of the Provisional IRA, and the leader of Sinn Fein is generally believed to have a seat on the Army Council, the governing body of the IRA.
By ‘nothing personal’ I was referring to attacks on moi, not referring to yourself - young sprog!
I also sold the civi version of the AR18, it was called the AR180. semi only, it was not the quality goods that the AR 15-16’s were, but worked well enough, it was a clunky rifle, didnt point naturally, I never cared for it personally, but they were available in a time that there were not 30 available AR15’s in the entire U.S. I know this because (I must be a weirdo magnet) a member of a militia group, dropped in to order some firearms, said he was from a local church, and needed guns for their security people. For this type of thing used police trade-ins are the thing. But this fellow said that they wanted the AR 15. I replied that I could find them one, he said they wanted 30 of them, and 25,000 rds ammo. Some church you have there i’m thinking, I said I’ll check around, so call me in 2 days. After he left, another call to the ATF guys, who said if its legit, sell them, we will investigate.(that means if there is a problem they will confiscate the guns from the buyer) I called round, found 3 AR15’s (for premium prices) which didnt interest the fellow from the “church”. Dont know if the ATF ever got anywhere, but they did infiltrate the group.
Not exactly true. The actual “Marxist-Leninists” controlled the organization in the late-1960s. But a split happened after the “Battle of Bogside” --in which events unfortunately transformed the IRA from a group of grumpy old communists more apt at uniting a pub under one beer tab than they were at anything else-- to what was seen as a Catholic militia and self-defense force. The organization split around 1969 into two factions. (see the “Life of Brian” ‘terrorist splinter groups’ scene for more info :)). The leadership caste was thrown into the “Official” Irish Republican Army (OIRA), which was still seeing things purely in an unrealistic ideological argument of class warfare and hoped that liberating the proletariat or both Protestant and Catholic workers would lead to a united Ireland. Unfortunately, they ignored the fact that the Protestants had their own paramilitaries/militias/terrorist/guerrilla groups such as the Ulster Defense Force and the “Red Hand Commando” that likened being “commandos” to cutting people to death with knives as they were tied up, and it is a fact that these Protestant paramilitaries actually drew the first serious blood of the modern round of “Troubles” in the late 60s when they undertook a campaign of what can be called ethnic cleansing against Catholic community, which involved lovely tactics like: serial murder torture killings, shooting people that might or might not be Catholics on the street, and depriving the entire community of their basic civil and economic rights. The OIRA were subsumed by the “Provos” as they were as likely to kill their main rivals as they were to kill British troops and Protestant loyalists. Perhaps even a little more so willing…The OIRA became the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) I believe.
The “Provisional” Irish Republican Army was regrouped and transformed into a more pragmatic organisation that saw itself as a sectarian militia . They still adhered to general socialist principles; but were such good nefarious businessmen that the American La Cosa Nostra would look upon them with envy. So, they’re probably greedy capitalists like everyone else despite the rhetoric, as a lot of being a terrorist/freedom fighter for Eire seemed to involve what can be termed ‘organized crime.’ At any rate, due to the successful British “carrot and stick” approach to counterinsurgency along with very genuine social reforms in Northern Ireland such as powersharing, the moderating of actual IRA leaders such as Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness into competent middle-class politicians and technocrats, a general war-weariness of all combatants in Northern Ireland who are getting on into their 50s and 60s, the emergence of Eire as Europe’s little economic tiger, and yes --9/11-- have all had an impact of deterring further violence from the stupid bastards that still want to kill people there…
I’m not aware of them using RPG-7s on any occasions however.
I am aware of a case in 1998, after the Good Friday Accord broke down, the PIRA fired RPGs at an RUC-station I believe…
Hmmm, soviets indeed very much helped both the Mao and Tito in certain critical periods for them , even when they “didn’t folow soviet instructions” .
Actualy there were the tentions among the Communists states - the China, Yugoslavia were pretty independent and sometimes even hostitle to the SU.
But , thrue is , dear pdf , that Soviet supplied not just the pro-communists groups in fight , but even the any states/powers who fight against their ideological enemies, kinda Arabs during the Isreal-Arad conflict. Egupth and Syria ,as you probably know, was far from any communists ideology.
The other possibility is that they were simply scared of giving non-Russian nationalities within the Soviet Union the idea that taking up an “armed struggle” for independence from the Soviet Union was possible. Given that the Soviet Union had perpetual problems with unruly nationalities within it (e.g. the Chechens today), I can see them being less than keen on supporting an organisation like the IRA.
Oh common, the USSR had no any perpetual problems in the 1960-80 , becouse all of the “unruly nationalities” already were busy , working hard in the Syberia 
Soviets actualy know how effectively supress the ethnical conflict from most beginning, even if it demand the rough means like deportations.
Somethning promt me , that you my friend not fully frank about Irish nationalists.
Their “wrong way of Marxism” has no any relation at the socialism, communism or other social order or ideology.
It seems they were the group of national-biased extremists, who think that Brits has not deserved to rule by the Ireland.
This is simple ethnical extremists( probably with mixture of religion one) who only think that the are "better’ than their neighbourds - brits. The tupical local national separatism.
Therefore i think Soviets even did not look at the IRA as for the object of soviet help.
The ethnical and religious fanatics are not a proper aim for that.
Althought as you may be know the CIA and MI6 planned to assist the Western Ukrainian Extremists ( until the KGB has finished them all in 1953).
Oh thak to Nick we know the true now:)
As i guessed the IRA was rather group of ethnical and religion extremists than the “Socialists marxists idealists”.
Therefore soviet did not assisted them - they look at them as at their class enemies as well.
BTW Nick, why are you such clever…?