Yisrael Galili (weapons designer)
Yisrael Galili , born: Balashnikov , (* 1923 in Mishmar HaYarden , Palestine ; † March 9, 1995 in Giw'atajim ) was an Israeli weapons designer.
Balashnikov's family came from the Soviet Union ; he himself was born in Mishmar HaYarden in 1923 on the territory of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine . In 1940 he completed a business school from. During World War II he served in the British Army , after which he joined the paramilitary Hagana , where he was responsible for manufacturing weapons. In 1948 he became an employee of the arms company Israel Military Industries . Among other things, he worked with Uzi Gal on the development of the Uzi submachine gun .
In the 1967 Six Day War , the Israelis realized that the opposing AK-47 assault rifles worked significantly better than the weapons used by the Israelis. Balashnikov converted captured AK-47s to the 5.56 × 45 mm NATO caliber . These prototypes won the tender for new infantry armament. However, the similarity of the surname Balashnikov and the AK-47 developer Kalashnikov was considered a disadvantage. Since Balashnikov was considering a name change anyway, he changed his surname to Galili. Together with Yaakov Lior , Galili developed the IMI Galil assault rifle named after him from the prototype , which was introduced by the Israel Defense Forces .
In 1973 Galili received the Israel State Security Award. He worked for Israel Military Industries for 44 years and was an expert on light weapons .
Galili died of a heart attack in 1995 in Giw'atajim , a suburb of Tel Aviv .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Gary Paul Johnston, Thomas B. Nelson: The World's Assault Rifles , Ironside International Publishers, 2016, ISBN 9781619846012 , pp. 1324-1336 [1]
- ^ A b Creator of Galil Assault Rifle Dies March 12, 1995, Jewish Telegraphic Agency [2]
- ^ A b Israel Yearbook and Almanac, Volume 50 , Verlag IBRT Translation / Documentation Limited, 1996, p. 286 [3]
- ↑ a b Yisrael Galili, Weapons Inventor, 72 , New York Times , March 11, 1995 [4]
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Galili, Israel |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Balashnikov, Israel (birth name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Israeli weapons designer |
DATE OF BIRTH | 1923 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Mishmar HaYarden League of Nations mandate for Palestine |
DATE OF DEATH | March 9, 1995 |
Place of death | Giw'atajim |