Military equipment props used in Star Wars movies & series

[TK41434]

I have found a couple of Star Wars items/props that are from different international armies, and especial the German Army / Bundeswehr.
Here in particular the three rainmen of Episode II and other episodes.
With this thread, I want to share the three rainmen and some other german military items. But I also want to share in the future other military items that were used in Star Wars.

Let’s start with the first items ...
German Army flak jacket / Bundeswehr Splitterschutzweste

This flak jacket was introduced to the Bundeswehr in 1992. However, it is no longer officially in use in operations. The camouflage pattern is called flecktarn!

Let’s go to the second item ...
German Army overshoes / Bundeswehr Überschuhe

I can`t tell you when these overshoes were introduced to the Bundeswehr?!

Let’s go on with the third item ...
German Army winter hat / Bundeswehr Wintermütze

Some othes in the Star Wars community are believing that this winter hat could be possibly a Swedish one?! But I am believing that it is German too!
I found another picture of an actor were we can see the hat a little bit better...

It is the old version of the German Army winter hat / Bundeswehr Wintermütze in military green. But the same model is still in use but only in flecktarn.

Let’s go on with the fourth item ...
German Army HK G3 Rifle Magazin / Bundeswehr Heckler & Koch G3 Magazin

There is nothing special to tell. You can still find some HK G3 in the German Army! But it has been replaced by the HK G36 and in the next years it will be also replaced!

Let’s finish with the last item ... but this was found in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
German Army Gun cleaning kit / Bundeswehr Waffenreinigungsgerät

It is the German Army Gun cleaning kit / Bundeswehr Waffenreinigungsset that the Germans are using since decades and it is still in use!

 

[TK41434]

The Mandalorian Detonator that was used to bring down the Krayt Dragon on Tatooine in Season 2, Chapter 10 ...

... is a Alarm Device used by the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) ... called in German: Alarmeinheit, Automatisches Alarmgerät, Chemische Agentien M 42 G by Honeywell-ELAC.

 

[TK41434]

Today, with the following German military item … I am a little vague.
It is about the gloves of the Alazmec Cultists on the volcanic planet Mustafar in Episode IX.

They all are wearing 3-finger gloves. Here, it is better to see ...

I think, they might be the following 3-finger CBRN gloves of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). They are made of leather and canvas and have a buckle on the back.

The gloves of the Alazmec Cultists may have been modified a bit?! What do you think?

 

[TK41434]

Today, another German Army piece ... and again in Episode I, at the Anakin podracer winner scene ...

The guy on Anakin's left side who is likely wearing a leather flying helmet/cap ... he is wearing German Army (Bundeswehr) folding sunglasses too...

These goggles were called by the soldiers with the nick name: NATO BH [Büstenhalter] ... in engl. NATO push-up bra Guess why?

 

[TK41434]

The US Navy Mk II talker helmet was used as a helmet by the US Navy from the Second World War and into the 1980s ...

... and this helmet was used a basis for a few Star Wars helmets, like the Rebel Fleet Trooper, Imperial Navy Trooper or the Imperial Weapons Technician.

But is also still in use in the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) ... at the Land Forces and Navy.

There, it is called 'Steel helmet, special form for order transmission' ... in German: Stahlhelm, Sonderform ´Befehlsübermittlung‘, produced by Schuberth Werk in Germany.
The German soldiers gave him the name nick name Calimero helmet.
Calimero is a Japanese animated television series about a charming anthropomorphized chicken. Guess now, why the soldiers gave him this name ...

 

[TK41434]

The German Army (Bundeswehr) Duffel bag clip was used in Andor at the starship lot scene by Pegla on his belt as keychain (!).

The steel clip consists of a chain and a snap hook for locking. The device is also suitable for a padlock, so this provides extra protection.

 

[TK41434]

Today a blaster rifle ... In Episode VII ... Finn, formerly designated FN-2187, was using the EL-16 blaster rifle.

The basis of the blaster rifle was the assault rifle Heckler & Koch G36 (Gewehr 36, standard German army version with dual sight view) is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle designed in the early 1990s by German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It was accepted into service with the Bundeswehr in 1997, and it is still in use.

 

[4str0m3ch]

Today a blaster rifle ... In Episode VII ... Finn, formerly designated FN-2187, was using the EL-16 blaster rifle.
View attachment 1718145View attachment 1718146
The basis of the blaster rifle was the assault rifle Heckler & Koch G36 (Gewehr 36, standard German army version with dual sight view) is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle designed in the early 1990s by German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It was accepted into service with the Bundeswehr in 1997, and it is still in use.
View attachment 1718147View attachment 1718149

See, that's how you use a familiar weapon design and make it Star Wars.

*Glares at space-AK*

 

[TK41434]

The MG1 Pouch of the Machine Gun Accessory Kit /field maintenance cleaning kit for the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) was used by Pykes in The Book of Boba Fett (Chapter 3) or ...

...by the Quarren boatman in The Mandalorian (Chapter 11).

The MG 1 was the first postwar machine gun variant of the MG 42 chambered for 7.62×51mm NATO ammunition, and was launched in 1958 at the Rheinmetall arms factory as requested by the Bundeswehr.

 

[TK41434]

See, that's how you use a familiar weapon design and make it Star Wars.

*Glares at space-AK*

Additional to my former thread about the use of the Heckler & Koch G36 by Finn, I was able to figure out that the Sith Troopers, also known as Sith Stormtroopers, used in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker parts of the G36. Check the handguards of the G36C and the ST-W48 blaster ...

But not least, in Solo: A Star Wars Story some Enfys Nest Cloud-Riders used parts of the G36 too. Check the skeleton stocks of the G36 and the different blasters, and the optic mount rail of the right Cloud-Rider ...

 

[Vagabond Elf]

See, that's how you use a familiar weapon design and make it Star Wars.

*Glares at space-AK*

The Space AK would have been fine if they'd just used the dang 10-round magazine. It's the distinctive mag that really pulls me out of the immersion. The Sturmgewehr is just as recognisable, but because they pulled the mags when they made the props it doesn't stand out.

Sorry, off-topic I know.

 

[TK41434]

The Space AK would have been fine if they'd just used the dang 10-round magazine. It's the distinctive mag that really pulls me out of the immersion. The Sturmgewehr is just as recognisable, but because they pulled the mags when they made the props it doesn't stand out.

Sorry, off-topic I know.

No, no ... we are fine The headline of this thread is "Military equipment used as props in Star Wars movies & series".
I have only a focus of the German because I worked with most of this stuff When I am finished with the German equipment, I will post military equipment of other nations too.
So, go ahead, and post your military inputs

For the others ... Vagabond Elf is talking about the AK47 Version used in Andor...

It is a version that was designed for airborne infantry by the Russian small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov. This version was equipped with a folding shoulder stock, and this was a 1 to 1 copy of the German MP40.

And here we are ... we are back to the German topic

 

[Vagabond Elf]

Well, technically it's an AKMS, not an AK47. AK47s haven't been made since 1949, I think? Don't remember exactly. And in casual conversation I wouldn't care, but theRPF is all about pedantic little details.

Anyway, now that the image is in front of me I'm reminded that they didn't do a good job of disguising the very distinctive AK handguard, either. Contrast that with the A295 from Empire Strikes Back - if you look at it in a still shot, the StG-44 it was built on is plain to see. But because they pulled the mag and changed the handguard, it doesn't jump out at you during the show.

 

[TK41434]

You are right with the AK47 ... they used the Kalashnikov AKS that was an assault rifle design derived from the classic AK47 series ... with the only major difference being a folding stock. The AKS appeared in 1950.
As you mentioned before ... theRPF is all about pedantic little details

 

[Alan Solo]

The Space AK would have been fine if they'd just used the dang 10-round magazine. It's the distinctive mag that really pulls me out of the immersion. The Sturmgewehr is just as recognisable, but because they pulled the mags when they made the props it doesn't stand out.

Sorry, off-topic I know.

Or no magazine at all, I thought. It haunts me to this day

 

[TK41434]

The Space AK would have been fine if they'd just used the dang 10-round magazine. It's the distinctive mag that really pulls me out of the immersion. The Sturmgewehr is just as recognisable, but because they pulled the mags when they made the props it doesn't stand out.

Sorry, off-topic I know.

Likely they used a clear 10-round polymer magazine ... like this one?

 

[Vagabond Elf]

Likely they used a clear 10-round polymer magazine ... like this one?

The very clearly used a standard 30-round AKM mag. My argument is they should have used the 10-round mag, though I'd have gone with a steel or alu one if I could get one, just so I wouldn't have to paint it black. Personally, I think the 10-rounder would look better than no mag at all, because I like my blasters to have obvious "power packs" - and honestly, most star wars weapons have visible mags, so I think it looks better.

It's just that the standard 30-round 7.62x39mm magazine is so damn distinctive, it pulls the viewer right out of the scene.

Even better, they should have used an AK-101 with a 20-round VietNam era 5.56mm mag, because there's one of those on the ROTJ blasters so it would help tie the visual language together.

I get why they used the AK - nothing screams "insurgent" like someone in civilian clothes holding a Kalishnikov - I just wish they'd done a better job of tying it into Star Wars' visual language.

Oh - and to my knowledge, there's no such thing as an AKS. That would indeed be an AK, which is popularly called the AK-47, that had been equipped with a folding stock. But, as far as I know, by the time the folding stock exists the AK/AK-47 has been replaced by the AKM, and the folding stock version seen in Andor is the AKMS.

The existence of the "M" is the bit of pedantry I was referring to in my earlier post.

 

[TK41434]

I am not an expert in AK47 series.
That is why I am presenting the German equipment first

 

[TK41434]

Something additional to the MG1 machine gun, but in this case also for the MG42 or MG3.
In The Mandalorian (Season 3), the Mandalorians used a German Ammo Can ...

The Ammo Can is similar to the different German WWII and postwar machine guns ... MG42, MG1 or MG3. And it is still in use in the German Armed Forces.

 

[TK41434]

In The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 7 (Recap), at the street battle scene in Mos Espa, one of Boba allies is wearing a German Bundeswehr Load-Carrying Equipment (LCE) / Koppeltragegestell.

1939, the LCE M39 / Koppeltragegestell M39 was initially introduced in two different versions in the German Reich into the Wehrmacht. Both original models were made entirely of heavy leather and had hooks, eyelets or carabiner hooks made of aluminum.

In November 1955, a similar LCE was developed and introduced into the newly set up of the German Army (Bundeswehr) ... the back luggage, ammunition pouches, CBRN protection mask, field bottle, folding spade, etc. can be attached. The LCE consisted of fully made of web belt and was colored olive.