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First cache from the US
I'n 1969 the pIRA received it's first shipment of weapons from supporters in the USA. It mostly consisted of surplus WW2 weapons including the M1 carbine, M3 grease gun and other various sub machineguns and handguns.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/M1_Carbine_Mk_I_-_USA_-_Armémuseum.jpg -
Basque ETA revolvers
The pIRA Is given around 50 revolvers by the terrorist basque ETA group. -
First batch of AR style weaponry
The pIRA got their first batch of modern weaponry in 1971 acquire roughly 100 ar-15 and ar-180 rifles.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/AR-18.jpg -
1972 imports.
In 1972 the pIRA maid good progress in terms of gaining new weapons and relations, they received a small batch of weapons from Lybia, bought multiple RPG-7s and got another shipment of AR style weapons from their US supporters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-7#/media/File:RPG-7_detached.jpg -
1973 setback.
In 1973 a shipment bound for the pIRA from Muammar Gaddafi was intercepted, it included 250 AK-47 rifles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muammar_Gaddafi#/media/File:Moamer_el_Gadafi_(cropped).jpg -
1977 US army weaponry,
In 1977 the pIRA got their most important shipment to date from their supporters in the US. A US army base had weapons stolen from it and these weapons would be sent to Ireland. The shipment included M60 machine guns M16 rifles and C100 Anti tank rocket launchers. The M60s were a big step in the pIRAs armament and would later use them to shoot down multiple UK army helicopters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M60_machine_gun#/media/File:M60GPMG.jpeg -
Ammo shipment operation ends.
A pIRA operation to import ammo that began in 1973 ends in 1978 having brought atleast 500,000 rounds of 5.56x45mm NATO rounds for the AR style weapons into Ireland. -
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Multiple setbacks.
During this time period the pIRA had the majority of their plans to smuggle weapons into Ireland foiled by both local agencies like the Garadi and foreign ones like the FBI. These include a incident in 1979 where the Garadi intercepted a shipment of more than 150 guns and 60,000 rounds of ammo. As well as when the US navy intercepts a shipment from the Irish mob in boston heading for the pIRA. -
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More shipments from Libya.
Between 1985 and 87 the Libyan government sent the pIRA a total of 5 shipments one of which was intercepted. they included a total of 300 tons of weapons included 150 tons of AKMs SA-7 S.A.M missles, Semtex explosives and RPG-7s. A song simply called the S.A.M song would be written about the SA-7s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K32_Strela-2#/media/File:SA-7.jpg -
Barret .50 cal rifles.
In the late 80s and early 90s the pIRA would smuggle in multiple .50 caliber rifles from the US which would be used by their sniper teams in their series of sniper attacks against the UK army.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Armagh_Sniper_(1990–1997)#/media/File:DM-ST-86-07441.JPEG
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