# Do all enemies of the USA use Russian/ Soviet weapons? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-enemies-of-the-usa-use-russian-soviet-weapons/701153 "2014-10-13T00:20:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-enemies-of-the-usa-use-russian-soviet-weapons/701153/41 "2014-10-14T18:35:11Z")
> [@](#): > > why would they sound different? I guess he means if you heard one on full auto you could assume it wasn’t friendly. Really, though, there was very little ground combat (only ~10,000 British troops were deployed) during the Falklands War so it didn’t matter. > [@](#): > > Yes, the Falkland conflict featured many “Western” weapons used against each other, especially the most famous, the French-made Exocet missiles. Come to think of it, the best example was Argentina using (British-built) Canberra bombers. ---
**Author:** ![bryanmaguire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bryanmaguire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmaguire)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-enemies-of-the-usa-use-russian-soviet-weapons/701153/42 "2014-10-14T19:47:17Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I guess he means if you heard one on full auto you could assume it wasn’t friendly. Really, though, there was very little ground combat (only ~10,000 British troops were deployed) during the Falklands War so it didn’t matter. > > Come to think of it, the best example was Argentina using (British-built) Canberra bombers. that makes sense ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-enemies-of-the-usa-use-russian-soviet-weapons/701153/43 "2014-10-14T21:19:45Z")
> [@bryanmaguire](#): > > I dont see why. they were basically the same rifle except one was metric and the other imperial. why would they sound different? As pointed out by others above … You missed the part wherein I was replying to a guy who said the British squaddies liked to pick up abandoned Argentine rifles because the Brit-issue version was semi-auto only whereas the Argentine version was full auto. ---
**Author:** ![bryanmaguire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bryanmaguire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmaguire)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-enemies-of-the-usa-use-russian-soviet-weapons/701153/44 "2014-10-14T21:49:41Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > As pointed out by others above … > > You missed the part wherein I was replying to a guy who said the British squaddies liked to pick up abandoned Argentine rifles because the Brit-issue version was semi-auto only whereas the Argentine version was full auto. I didnt. The guy you replied to was me. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-enemies-of-the-usa-use-russian-soviet-weapons/701153/45 "2014-10-14T23:21:42Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Come to think of it, the best example was Argentina using (British-built) Canberra bombers. I didn’t know Argentina used Canberras during the Falklands unpleasantness, so went on a wiki-walk and found out that Nasa still has a couple of US-made variants in operation! :eek: The value of a good design, I suppose ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-enemies-of-the-usa-use-russian-soviet-weapons/701153/46 "2014-10-15T21:59:46Z")
I don’t know if the US considers them our enemy per se, but the Irish Republican Army considers their signature rifle to be the American made Armalite AR-18. > **[Provisional Irish Republican Army arms importation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army_arms_importation)** > > Provisional Irish Republican Army arms importation in forms of both firearms and explosives began in the early 1970s during the Troubles. With these weapons it conducted an armed campaign against the British state in Northern Ireland. > In the 1970s, some guns were purchased by Dáithí Ó Conaill in Czechoslovakia. On 16 October 1971, at Schiphol Airport, Dutch authorities seized the IRA arms shipment including modern submachine guns, rifles, and bazookas imported from the Czech arms manufacturer ... ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-enemies-of-the-usa-use-russian-soviet-weapons/701153/47 "2014-10-15T23:12:11Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > I don’t know if the US considers them our enemy per se, but the Irish Republican Army considers their signature rifle to be the American made Armalite AR-18. > [Provisional Irish Republican Army arms importation - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army_arms_importation) Well, the PIRA isn’t officially armed anymore, although I imagine the RIRA and CIRA are using similar weapons. None ever fought the US but were put on lists. Most of the AR-18/AR-180s would’ve come from the US, as noted. Many of the arms **did** come from Libya, which certainly wasn’t friendly with the US at the time. Some of the Libyan arms (MP5, FN MAG [as M240], and the Berettas) are used by the US military in some capacity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-enemies-of-the-usa-use-russian-soviet-weapons/701153.md?page=2)