Dror light machine gun

The Dror light machine gun was an Israeli squad automatic weapon based on the M1941 Johnson light machine gun.

In the years immediately preceding the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Haganah (precursor to the Israel Defense Forces) bought the manufacturing rights to the M1941 Johnson from the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and developed the Dror in its own clandestine workshops.

Because large amounts of British rifle ammunition were available, the Pattern 1 Dror was initially chambered in .303 British and had a side feeding tray magazine, similar to the original Johnson.

The Pattern 2 Dror was built by Israel Military Industries (IMI) and was chambered in 7.92x57mm Mauser to take advantage of large quantities of recently imported Mauser ammunition. In this pattern, the magazines were mounted vertically under the receiver.

The Dror was air-cooled and recoil-operated, and was fed by 20-round box magazines which were slightly modified versions of M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle magazines. It also had a quick interchangeable barrels capability.

Because of its oversensitivity to dusty environments, the Dror did not see combat service in the 1948-49 Israel War of Independence. Following combat simulation testing, the Israel Defense Forces selected the FN Model D (a derivative of the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle) to replace the Dror in 1952.