Most Westerners think of the famous AK-47 Kalashnikov as being a dumb weapon for dumb people, while the "almighty" American M-16 is the weapon of choice for any respectable military force. And just as always, they are wrong.
Both of the machineguns have seen action and met each other for the first time during the Vietnam war. While the American M-16 was lighter and had a higher firing rate (at that time) than the AK-47, it often jammed in the harsh jungle conditions, leading to the loss of many lives. Besides that, its small, 20-rounds magazine meant that combined with its high firing rate, the soldier needed to replace his magazine very often, thus giving enough time for the enemy to approach and take him out of the battle.

The AK-47 Kalashnikov on the other hand, was very, very reliable, it did not jam, and it had a 30, 32 and later even 60-round magazine. Its versatile characteristics meant that the AK-47 could be used in any conditions, ranging from jungle to desert, and from mountain to heavy winter environmets. Furthermore, to make things seem perfect, it was extremely cheap to manufacture, compared to the expensive American weapon.
So if you think the M-16 is "the best in the world", an expression as often as it is wrong, while the Kalashnikov is "a third world country's weapon", think again!

However, decades have passed, and although the AK-47, AKM, Kalashnikov and Dragunov models, as well as their American counterparts M-16 and M-4 have seen several refurbishments, they are staring to get outdated, especially when considering the future conflict scenarios, such as small border and ethnic conflicts, terrorist attacks and guerilla warfare.
For such specific threats, highly trained professional soldiers, preferably from the Special Forces, equipped with highly reliable, small, light, advanced and versatile weapons, represent the future for any respectable military power.
New weapons have been developed, especially from countries for which the fight against terrorism, at least from their perspective, is a daily struggle for survival. Israel produces a wide arrange of weaponry, and thus Romania's cooperation with this country in the defence industry can only be a natural thing. Romania's large facilities, highly trained specialists and excellent expertize can help combine with Israel's military experience in creating very advanced weapons, that can be used by both countries, even in different fighting scenarios.

Romania had to chose its new light machinegun, the one to replace the aging Kalashnikov. Obviously the first option was the American M-16A2, since Romania and the US are now closely cooperating in the war against terror, and this is a cooperation to last, as Romania has always belonged to the Western Hemisphere.
Interestingly enough, the collaboration with the Israelis gave the Romanians a second, and very tempting, option.
The Israelis were developing a new, lightweight, small machinegun, made specifically for anti-terrorist operations, called TAV-21 Tavos.
Tavos has many versions, but most of them do not have a back pat, which makes it a lot easier for a special forces soldier to move around with it and change his firing direction.
Furthermore, Tavos has it's front handler inclosed, therefore making it much better for the soldier to hold the weapon in his hand for long periods of time, as it can not fall or misfire. This also eliminates the need for a strap to the body, a solution which is currently used by all machineguns as an option. Even though such a strap can optionally be attached to the Tavos/Tavor weapons, it is not needed.

Romania, which has a long tradition in manufacturing all the range of firing weapons, from rifles to machineguns and from pistols to automatics, has combined the usage of its facilities and expertize with the Israeli experience and Swiss specialists in making these new weapons.
Manufactured in a wide array of versions and variants, including the TAV-21 Tavos, Tavor, M-203 and Police versions, the new generation of special forces weapons is expected to be successfully used in combat by all the countries that have participated in the project.
And the combat scenarios in which the new weapons will have to prove themselves will be dramatically different.
While Israel needs a small and light, high firing rate weapon, which its soldiers can deploy in the dead of night in the cold desert, or in a hot, dusty afternoon against terrorists and insurgents, Romania for example needs a weapon which its soldiers can use in all the environments where they are deployed. And since Romania has already sent more than 12,000 men in various conflict areas, ranging from the cold winter of Kosovo and Bosnia to the hot areas of Afghanistan and Iraq, Tavos will need to prove it was worth all the investment.
For the wars of the future, will bring very different types of operations, taking place in very different environments.

Another advantage of the Tavor is that it was built with future upgrades in mind. While an old AK-47 needs special adjusting if you want to fit it with a sniper telescope or with special IR viewing device, these settings have been considered right from the start in the design and concept of the Tavor.
Everybody heard by now about the future American program called Land Warrior.
Land Warrior is an integrated fighting gear specifically built for US Special Forces and perhaps even infantry, while they fight on the ground. Land Warrior offers infra-red and nightvision capability to the combatant, as well as "over-the-hill" and "beyond-the-corner" capabilities, with the usage of MAV's (Micro-Air Vehicles) and a telescope mounted on the weapon, respectively.
While this system has been under testing ever since 1996 at a base in West Virginia, experimented with the 75th Ranger Regiment, it is assumed that it has already entered active service with Delta Force around the year 2003.
The IDF (Israeli Defence Force) also has a future combatant program, which is very similar with the US Land Warrior program.
The Israeli's have developed this system in parallel with the American Land Warrior program, and it therefore comes at no surprize that there are many similarities, in both concept and doctrine, between the two.
In the left you can see an Israeli Special Forces combatant equipped with the Israeli future combatant gear. You can notice the TAV-21 Tavor machinegun, the integrated sight gear, which is visibly composed from a viewing device, and integrated communications equipment.
Since Romania's military doctrine is very similar with the one of the United States when it comes to tactics and equipment, is it expected that in the following few years, Romania will also introduce this new outfitting program to all its Special Operations Forces as a standard.

Romania has purchased the first lot of TAV-21 Tavos weapons in december 2003. They went under testing at the famos 21st Mountain Hunters battalion, located in Predeal.
"For now, we are only testing the weapons from Lot One. So far we are happy with the results", stated Lt-col Gelaledin Nezir, offical spokesman for the Romanian Ministry of Defence.
"This weapon will enter active service starting from 2004", he continued. "Until then, we will keep on testing it, and from the moment of acquisition, the Mountain Hunters and all the Special Operations Forces in all the Armed Forces' branches have priority in receiving it".