FN FAL was perhaps the most popular unpopular weapon of the Cold War era. By that, I of course mean that the weapon was in the hands of every NATO and NATO-adjacent nation and then some, but was typically disliked by its users for her bulk, weight, and poor reliability. Nowhere do these issues become more apparent than in the deserts of the Levant, where dust and sand gets into everything, and the heat makes heavy loads that much more unbearable. That in mind, when the Yom Kippur War kicked off in 1973, FAL was often abandoned in favor of lighter and more reliable weapons such as from old stockpiles of Uzi submachine guns and captured Kalashnikov rifles.

Relying on seized and borrowed weapons is only so effective, though, especially in a war as intensive as Yom Kippur. It was therefore necessary for Israeli forces to take their experiences in that war to adopt a rifle that would offer the same reliability and low-cost of the AK platform, while also providing the same accuracy of an M16 or FAL platform. Offers were made on M16A1 and H&K G33, but the cost of buying and shipping weapons from abroad ultimately forced Israel to turn towards the domestic arms programs it had been developing since before the war.

Israeli weapon designer Yisrael Galil with Uziel Gal's Uzi platform in 1981.

Before Yom Kippur, Israeli weapon designer Uziel Gal submitted a design based on his prior success with the development of the Uzi submachine gun, but this design was rejected due to its stark contrast with the main goal of the weapons program, being complex, expensive and unreliable. In the early 1970's, designers Yisrael Galil and Yakov Lior proposed a drastically different design, based upon the Finnish iteration of the Kalashnikov platform, and using captured AK-47's from the Six-Day-War of 1967. Galil's rifle was a clear winner, and - after the conclusion of Yom Kippur - began issuance to the Israeli Defense Forces in 1973.

An Israeli soldier firing a Galil during a shooting competition in 2012.

Galil is an interesting amalgamation of weapons; although built off of the Valmet Finnish Kalashnikov platform, she was designed with FAL in mind (even including a redesigned FAL buttstock) and features components from American firearms, such as a trigger mechanism borrowed from M1 Garand. All of this served to significantly decrease the cost of design and production - but this approach was not without its fair share of shortcomings. For example, when M4 came along, many Israeli soldiers abandoned Galil in exchange for the more modular, lighter and more accurate platform - a no-contest decision in combat over Galil's superior "ruggedness".

Djiboutian National Police officers training with the 7.62mm Galil AR.

Galil went almost as quickly as she came. Given Israel's ample stockpile of M16 and later M4 weapons after the Yom Kippur War, Galil became obsolete almost immediately following her adoption. Being phased out completely by the IDF in 2000 - and entirely deposed by 2004 - Galil instead found success abroad. No fewer than 4 dozen militaries and police forces around the world use Galil as a cheap and reliable import / license-built weapon that - while not necessarily preferable to M4 or 416 per se - is much more accessible than other NATO weapons.

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