Yisrael Galil
| Yisrael Galili | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Yisrael Galili January 1, 1923 Mandatory Palestine |
| Died | March 9, 1995 (aged 72) Giv'atayim, Israel |
| Occupation | Weapons designer |
Yisrael Galili (Balashnikov) (1923–March 9, 1995), is best known for inventing the Galil assault rifle. He also helped create the Uzi submachine gun. He was known in the military by the nickname 'Father of the Rifle'.
Born in Israel on October 26, 1923, Galili served in the British Army in World War II. Following his discharge, he volunteered to work with the Haganah in weapons manufacture.
During the Six-Day War in 1967, the Israelis captured many AK-47 assault rifles from the Egyptian soldiers which proved more reliable & useful in the arid conditions against the FN FAL. Inspired by the AK-47, the IDF assessed it thoroughly and began the process of designing a new automatic rifle for which the task was assigned to two groups: one led by Uziel Gal, the designer of the famous Uzi submachine gun, & Yisrael Galili (Balashnikov) together with Yakov Lior invented the Galil assault rifle which named for him. Tests were conducted from the end of the 1960s to the early 1970s led to Galili's rifle emerging as the winner, as a result Galil was adopted by the military. The Galil assault rifle heavily derives most of the features from Kalashnikov AK-47. In 1973, he received Israel's security prize for this achievement.
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