Israelis phase out Uzi from arsenal

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, December 17, 2003

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military is phasing out the legendary Uzi submachine gun, calling it antiquated and replacing it with more sophisticated, electronics-outfitted weaponry, an army spokesman said Wednesday.

But the Uzi, a national icon and the country’s most famous contribution to the arms industry, will still be produced and exported, to the presumable delight of drug dealers, gang members, Secret Service agents and Hollywood action stars alike.

Israel’s military took the simply constructed, half-century-old weapon out of front line units two decades ago, but continued to issue it to some elite units and soldiers carrying heavy gear who needed a light weapon for self-defense.

Now the army says it will dump it altogether.

As of this week, "we’re no longer training soldiers on the Uzi," said army spokesman Capt. Jacob Dallal. "Basically, it’s antiquated," he said of the 9-mm weapon.

State-owned Israel Military Industries has made more than 1.5 million Uzis and will continue manufacturing the weapon, which has earned hundreds of millions of dollars from sales the world over, including in the United States, Latin America and Africa.

In Israel, the weapon’s smaller models are still popular with security guards who favor portability over accuracy. Many private security companies use the original, larger model because it’s cheap.

It’s also still a mainstay with some of the world’s police forces and security services guarding VIPs, said Yiftah Shapir of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.

The Uzi, while still used by the U.S. Secret Service, is also beloved of gangs in the United States because of its reputation as "a macho weapon," said gun expert Tim Brown of Globalsecurity.org. But he added the Uzi "is not a very good gun — it’s very inefficient, inaccurate. … It’s mostly used in bad Hollywood action movies."

The weapon was taken out of use by front line units in Israel in the early 1980s. It was replaced with standard and short versions of the American-made M-16, which can accurately hit a target at 1,000 yards.

This year, Israel announced the development of the Tavor, a new, compact assault rifle to be issued to soldiers starting in January. The rifle comes in three designs: a basic assault rifle, a sharp-shooting model and a shorter version for commandos and paratroopers that is useful in urban warfare.

The Tavor, like the Uzi, is small enough to be useful in street combat, but it can also be outfitted with high-tech electronics, such as sights that can provide real-time data on targets a soldier might not be able to see with his own eyes.

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