First Look: IWI ARAD 5 Piston-Driven AR

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Check out the latest piston-driven AR to hit the U.S. market, the IWI ARAD 5.

Israel Weapon Industries‘ ARAD 5 has finally landed in the United States! Developed in 2019, the ARAD 5 is a short-stroke piston AR designed for modern users. Taking some notes from the HK 416 platform, the ARAD 5 has a lot of features that make it stand out from the sea of black rifles normally seen. 

Features

• Semi-Monolithic Upper: Enables the use of varied optics and thermals while maintaining a rock-solid zero.
• Modular Handguard: M-LOK rails at the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions for maximum versatility.
• IWI QD CamLok System: Features the same fast, easy barrel-change retention system found in the world-famous Tavor X95 and Tavor 7.
• Short-Stroke Gas Piston: A highly dependable system with a 2-position gas regulator, ensuring reliability across environments and suppressed/unsuppressed configurations.
• MIL-SPEC AR-15 Lower Receiver

American-Israeli Rifle

Everything about the ARAD 5 is a mix of American and Israeli. From design to manufacturing, this is a mutt of a rifle. The barrel blank, lower receiver, and lower internal parts are all made in the United States. The piston system, gas block, barrel extension, and upper receiver parts are imported from IWI in Israel. 

Good news, this means this rifle doesn’t run into any weird importation laws. Bad news, this kind of leaves the American ARAD 5 as the slightly watered-down version of the ARAD. 

The ARAD has found a home with several governments and top-tier units around the world, and those contract rifles feature a CHF Chrome Lined barrel and full-ambi lower receiver. But the American ARAD 5 uses a MIL-SPEC AR-15 receiver with no ambi controls and a 4150 CMV barrel.

While the barrel material difference isn’t a huge deal, the lack of chrome lining is notable for longevity, especially in this FRT/FRS world. Missing out on the ambi-lower is a major bummer, but at least the MIL-SPEC lower is fully parts compatible with other standard AR-15 parts.

That said, the most important bits of the ARAD are still here. Short-stroke piston, thick barrel, adjustable gas block, semi-mono handguard/upper receiver, and the IWI QD CamLok system for the barrel.

Internal Changes

Differences between the ARAD and a normal AR-15 are easy to spot on the outside, but the inside is more interesting (at least to me). One look at the BCG and it’s obvious that this isn’t what you’re used to seeing.

Nearly all modern military black rifles share some common parentage. The AR-15, AR-18, and HK 416 can be seen in one form or another almost everywhere. The ARAD BCG is no exception. Thicker, rounded bolt lugs, spring-loaded firing pin, oversized firing pin, BCG safety lever, and dual ejectors make the ARAD 5’s BCG a non-standard and very robust system.

Range Time

This pre-release ARAD 5 didn’t have much time to see the range, so long term testing will have to wait. But so far, this is a solid rifle. Weight is heavy and balanced to the front, not surprising with a piston rifle. Handguard feels incredible and rock solid. Wider on the bottom than most handguards, this gives a more connected feel when shooting off a bag or prop. 

B5 Systems buttstock and grip are often what get added to my personal rifles, so these feel right at home for me. 

The magazine that shipped with the ARAD 5 isn’t the standard Gen 2 PMAG we’re used to seeing paired with almost every other AR-15 on the market. Instead, IWI classed it up by sending the PMAG M3 Windowed magazine. This 3rd-generation PMAG has some improvements that make it a better magazine overall, plus the addition of the window for easy round counting.

For more information, visit iwi.us.

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