For decades, armed groups around the world have converted rockets intended for use with large, vehicle-mounted launchers into improvised light weapons. Indiscriminate and lethal, these weapons have killed and injured thousands of people in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.

Yet, despite the demonstrated threat posed by artillery rockets, they have received significantly less attention from policy-makers than conventional small arms and light weapons do.

Traditional military rifles generally fire full-sized ammunition, such as 7.62 × 51 mm (NATO standard) and 7.62 × 54R mm (Warsaw Pact standard), and were in common military use until the widespread introduction of military assault rifles. The latter are chambered for intermediate calibre ammunition, and are less cumbersome and more suited to closer-range combat.

Numerous parts make up each small arm or light weapon, and the value of their global trade is worth at least USD 1.4 billion annually. These parts range from generic elements—like nuts, screws, and bolts that are also used in dozens of other products—to highly specialized, technologically sophisticated components, like sensors, designed specifically for a particular model.

Accessories for small arms and light weapons have become increasingly sophisticated, making weapons more lethal and more versatile. Their trade, both in civilian and military markets, is often not given the degree of attention paid to the weapons themselves.

Accessories for Small Arms and Light Weapons, a Research Note from the Small Arms Survey, defines accessories, explores their usage on the modern battlefield, and assesses the international trade in these items. The research note focuses on five subsets of accessories:

Assault rifles are light, self-loading rifles that are chambered for intermediate calibre cartridges. Designed to engage targets at ranges rarely exceeding 400 metres (around 1,300 feet), they are primarily selective-fire weapons, enabling the user to switch between single-shot, fully automatic, and (in some models) burst-fire modes of operation. 

Military Assault Rifles is a Research Note from the Small Arms Survey offering a succinct overview of this category of weapons. It covers their history, production, and trade.

Pistols and revolvers are short-range weapons, designed to hit targets at distances of around 25–30 metres, with rapidly diminishing accuracy beyond these ranges.

The basic design of pistols and revolvers has changed very little since the early 20th century.

Recent acquisitions by national military and police forces suggest that there is little demand for radical changes to pistol and revolver design, with most governments prioritizing the reliability and durability of tried and tested models.

Anti-tank guided weapons (ATGWs) are small missile-launching systems. Their missiles are designed to be steered, or ‘guided’, to a target after launch.

This Research Note from the Small Arms Survey offers a succinct overview of this category of weapons. It covers their history, production, trade, and usage by states and non-state groups.

Less-lethal weapons are designed to incapacitate their targets with specific, intermediate effects. When used inappropriately or with inadequate training, they can, however, inflict serious, even lethal, injuries.

Selected categories of less-lethal weapons include:

Designed primarily to engage and neutralize targets at distances well beyond a kilometre (half a mile), anti-materiel rifles are also used for anti-personnel purposes. The effective range for 12.7 mm and 14.5 mm anti-materiel rifles is 1,000–2,000 m: at the upper threshold this at least three times the effective range of a purpose-built 7.62 mm sniper rifle.

The fifth in the Small Arms Survey's series of Research Notes provides a brief overview of heavy machine guns (HMGs), defined as having a calibre between 12.7 mm and 20 mm.