For ideological, logistical, and tactical reasons, Islamic State (IS) forces have increasingly developed improvised weapons to supplement their stockpile of conventional materiel. During the course of field investigations in Iraq, Conflict Armament Research (CAR) has extensively documented the group’s research, development, and large-scale production of improvised weapons and ammunition.
IS ideologues mentioned the development, production, and management of weapons as early as 2013. In a document entitled Principles in the Administration of the Islamic State, the author, Abu Abdullah al-Masri, writes that it is necessary for a plan to be put in place including “establishing factories for local military and food production and independence from the monopoly of arms dealers for materials of necessity and cutting them off in the event of contravening the interests.”
To meet these objectives, IS forces established a centralized authority to exercise standardization and quality control for their numerous, geographically dispersed improvised weapon production facilities.
