The LMT R-20 Rahe is an
assault rifle
An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...
chambered for the
5.56×45mm NATO
The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, commonly pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, ...
cartridge. It is specially designed and manufactured for the needs of the
Estonian Defense Forces
The Estonian Defence Forces () is the unified military force of the Republic of Estonia. The Estonian Defence Forces consists of the Estonian Land Forces, the Estonian Navy, the Estonian Air Force, and the paramilitary Estonian Defence League. The ...
by the US company
Lewis Machine & Tool Company.
The R-20 Rahe replaced the
IMI Galil
The IMI Galil () is a family of Israeli-made automatic rifles chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges. Originally designed by Yisrael Galili (inventor), Yisrael Galili and Yakov Lior in the late 1960s, the Galil was fir ...
and
Automatkarbin 4
The Automatkarbin 4 (Ak 4; ) is a license-built Swedish version of the West German Heckler & Koch G3 battle rifle. It was adopted as the service rifle of the Swedish Armed Forces in 1965, replacing the bolt-action m/96 Mauser, the self-loading ...
rifles in the
Estonian Defence Forces equipment.
Variants
Rahe R-20 S
The Rahe R-20 S, the S referring to ''Short'', is a shortened version of Rahe R-20
5.56×45mm NATO
The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, commonly pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, ...
series with the barrel length 310 millimeters. The Rahe Short is designed for urban battles and trenches.
Rahe R-20
The Rahe R-20 is the
5.56×45mm NATO
The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, commonly pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, ...
assault rifle and the most common version of the R-20 series used by the
Estonian Defence Forces
The Estonian Defence Forces () is the unified military force of the Republic of Estonia. The Estonian Defence Forces consists of the Estonian Land Forces, the Estonian Navy, the Estonian Air Force, and the paramilitary Estonian Defence Leagu ...
and
Estonian Defence League
The Estonian Defence League (, 'Defence League') is a voluntary paramilitary national defence organization of the Republic of Estonia, under management of the Ministry of Defence. Its aim is to guarantee the preservation of the independence and s ...
.
Rahe R-20 L
The Rahe R-20 L, the L referring to ''Long'' is a
7.62×51mm NATO
The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, straight walled, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries.
First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first be ...
precision rifle. Rahe R-20 L uses a 20-round detachable box magazine. It is also possible to mount
telescopic sight
A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a ''reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate p ...
and bayonet onto it.
Users
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References
External links
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LMT R–20 Rahe at mil.ee
{{DEFAULTSORT:LMT R–20 Rahe
5.56×45mm NATO assault rifles
Military of Estonia