To replace the M16, which is not very suitable for urban combat conditions, the company from Israel IMI TAAS (Israel Military Industries) in the 90s began developing a new generation of weapons, using the now fashionable bullpup scheme. This is a small arms layout scheme where the magazine, bolt and firing mechanism are located behind the pistol grip with a trigger (usually inside the device). The big advantage of this scheme is that with certain dimensions of the weapon it is possible to increase the length of the barrel, which means an increase in the accuracy of shooting. Or, if it is necessary to maintain a given barrel length, it is possible to reduce the length of the rifle, thereby improving its weight, size and ergonomic performance. The disadvantages of this "bullpup" scheme, as a rule, include the location of the window for the ejection of cartridges, which is located close to the butt of the weapon (when firing from the left shoulder, the cartridges fly in front of the fighter's face) and a heavy descent (through an additional element between the trigger and the shock trigger).
The new machine gun is not a rework or modernization of other weapons, but was created, as they say, from scratch.
In 1998, the results of the development of IMI TAAS, namely a new rifle, called the Tavor Assault Rifle for the 21st Century (TAR-21 -: "assault rifle of the twenty-first century" Tavor "), were presented to the public. More precisely, a whole series of rifles was presented, ranging from the army model TAR-21 and its sniper version STAR-21 with a barrel extended to 460 mm, telescopic sight and folding bipods to the compact MTAR-21 version with a 250 mm barrel for the needs of security services. Absolutely all models of the new weapon are designed for the use of standard magazines from the M16 and for firing ordinary NATO cartridges of 5, 56 mm caliber.
The body of the new rifle is made of durable polymer materials and reinforced with lightweight and steel alloy inserts. Weapon developers abandoned the standard "mechanical" sight, equipping the rifle with an external collimator sight with a built-in laser designator. In order not to tire the soldiers with constant switching on and off, the sight turns on automatically when you twitch the shutter and turns off when the weapon needs to be discharged. Now it is equipped with a cheaper sight without a laser designator.
Military experts rank the new generation Israeli assault rifle as an almost ideal weapon for combat in the city - it came out light and at the same time rapid-fire, as well as convenient when shooting offhand. The disadvantage is the high cost compared to the usual M16. TAR-21 costs 10 times more, or $ 1000.
In addition to Israel, TAR-21s are armed with special forces of the armies of India, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Brazil produces them under license.
