The Ares Defense Shrike 5.56 is an air-cooled, dual-feed light machine gun/rifle for semi or full-auto configurations that fires the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge.

The Shrike 5.56 is sold as either as a complete weapon, or as an upper receiver "performance upgrade kit" to existing AR-15 and M16-type service rifles and carbines.

The name comes from the Shrike, a carnivorous passerine bird, and was designed by Geoffrey Herring.

The Shrike 5.56 has gas-piston operation, a quick-change barrel with fixed headspace and MIL-STD-1913 rail interface for the mounting of accessories.

[2] There exist some notable differences between the current model and the older prototypes.