The Ares Defense Shrike 5.56 is an air-cooled, dual-feed rifle for semi or full-auto configurations that fires the

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, but often pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, L110, an ...

cartridge. The Shrike 5.56 can be supplied as a complete weapon, or as an upper receiver “performance upgrade kit” to existing M16-type service rifles and carbines. it is named after the Shrike, a carnivorous passerine bird, and was designed by Geoffrey Herring.

Overview

The Shrike 5.56 has gas-piston operation, a quick-change barrel with fixed headspace and MIL-STD-1913 rail interface for the mounting of accessories. It can fire from standard 30-round M16 magazines, 100-round

Beta C-Mag The Beta C-Mag is a 100-round capacity drum magazine manufactured by the Beta Company. It was designed by Jim Sullivan and first patented in 1987 and has been adapted for use in numerous firearms firing the 5.56×45mm NATO, 7.62×51mm NATO, and ...

drum magazines, and M27-linked

SAW A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mov ...

ammunition from 100-round or 200-round “soft-pouches” and 200-round hard plastic SAW ammunition containers. At 7.5 lbs complete weapon weight, the Shrike 5.56 is lighter than other squad automatic weapons, such as the

M249 light machine gun The M249 light machine gun (LMG), also known as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), which continues to be the manufacturer's designation, and formally written as Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is the American adaptation of the Belgian F ...

and

Heckler & Koch MG4 The Heckler & Koch MG4 (also known as the HK123) is a belt-fed 5.56 mm light machine gun designed and developed by German firearm manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It was developed in the late 1990s and first seen publicly in September 2001. It has be ...

.Modern Firearms: Ares "Shrike"
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Variants

There exist some notable differences between the current model and the older prototypes. EXP-1: The initial proof-of-concept prototype. It features a modified

M249 The M249 light machine gun (LMG), also known as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), which continues to be the manufacturer's designation, and formally written as Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is the American adaptation of the Belgian F ...

handguard, a unique firing mechanism and a quick-detach barrel latch derived from the

Stoner 63 The Stoner 63 is a 5.56×45mm NATO modular weapon system. Using a variety of modular components, it can be configured as an assault rifle, carbine, top-fed light machine gun, belt-fed squad automatic weapon, or as a vehicle mounted weapon. Also ...

. EXP-2: This improved prototype featured a new

Picatinny rail The Picatinny rail ( or ), or Pic rail for short, also known as a MIL-STD-1913 rail, 1913 rail or STANAG 2324 rail (cancelled), is a military standard rail interface system that provides a mounting platform for firearm accessories. It was ...

handguard, an improved firing mechanism using some M16 components, and a new barrel latch similar to that of the M60 machine gun. 03A: The production model. It has a compact side-mounted gas system different from the previous prototypes, and its firing mechanism is also significantly modified. Early production runs had a circular handguard. More recent production Shrikes have a Picatinny rail handguard. The barrel latch and some other components are similar to the EXP-1. ARES-16SPW receiver: This receiver was designed by Ares specifically for the Shrike system. It is identical to the

mil-spec A United States defense standard, often called a military standard, "MIL-STD", "MIL-SPEC", or (informally) "MilSpecs", is used to help achieve standardization objectives by the U.S. Department of Defense. Standardization is beneficial in achievin ...

M16 receiver, except its magazine well is cut away to save space. Shrikes mounted on this receiver can only use M249 box magazines with linked 'munitions, but they have a smaller vertical profile. Ares AAR: Lightweight Infantry Automatic Rifle for squad support. Features quick-change barrel, telescoping stock, MIL-STD-1913 optics mount and rail interface handguard with USMC Grip-Pod system. Feeds from 30- and 100-round magazines and can be user-configured to dual-feed (belt and magazine) in minutes with optional belt-feed module. Ares AAR/C: Ultra-Compact Infantry Automatic Rifle for squad support. Features quick-change barrel, side-folding stock, MIL-STD-1913 optics mount and rail interface handguard. Feeds from 30- and 100-round magazines. Compact design maximizes portability and dismounted maneuverability. This production variant can be fitted with multiple

s. These enable it to mount various commercial scopes, flashlights,

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...

s, and even secondary underbarrel weapons such as grenade launchers and shotguns.

References

External links

Ares Defense: Official SiteNazarian's Gun's Recognition Guide (FILM) 200 Round Burst on Tripod (.MPEG)
{{ArmaLite AR-10 derivatives __NOTOC__ 5.56×45mm NATO machine guns Assault rifles of the United States Squad automatic weapons ArmaLite AR-10 derivatives AR-15 style rifles Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2002