From
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/channel_dti.jsp?channel=dti
Russian designers are working on two new infantry weapons that could finally provide an AK-47 replacement: Izhmash's AK-107 and the AEK-971 developed jointly by Kovrovsky Mekhanicheskiy Zavod (KMZ) and Degtyarev Plant in the town of Kovrov.
Details about Izhmash's new AK-107 assault rifle are closely guarded. A description of the new rifle was removed from the manufacturer's web site, and scant official information about its progress has been released. Baditza, citing security reasons, refuses to comment on the AK-107 program. However, he did confirm that the program is still underway.
The 5.45-mm. AK-107, as well as its AK-108 version adapted to fire 5.56-mm. NATO ammunition, features a mechanism that uses so-called balanced automatics, as does the AEK-971. Alexey Isakov, head of KMZ's Special Design Bureau, explains that, during automatic fire, a rifle of the classic AK-47 design has four impulses that shake the weapon and disrupt its aim: the recoil from the bullet; the forward impulse from the gas piston as it moves backward; blowback generated when the receiver assembly reaches the far end of its path, and the momentum of the receiver moving forward. Balanced automatics minimizes the impulses from the rifle's internal moving parts by using two gas pistons that move in opposite directions during firing. As a result, a shooter feels only the recoil generated by the bullet as it moves along the barrel.
Isakov says KMZ developed the first AEK-971 prototype in the early 1970s as a replacement for the 7.62-mm. AK-47. The company's designers initially wanted to modernize the AK-47's design. But they soon realized that they couldn't double the assault rifle's accuracy as desired by the military while staying within that classic design scheme. So they implemented the balanced automatics principle in the new rifle. Unfortunately for KMZ, the Soviet military conservatively chose the Kalashnikov 5.45-mm. AK-74, which offered decreased blowback due to its smaller caliber and, as a result, slightly better accuracy.
Yet the AEK-971 program resumed in the 1990s with the backing of then-Defense Minister Igor Rodionov. At comparative test firings sponsored by Rodionov, the AEK-971 faced both the AK-74 and the AN-94. Each rifle fired a standard 30-round magazine in automatic mode from a standing position into a 1 X 1-meter target at a distance of 100 meters. According to Isakov, the AK-74 hit the target only once and the AN-94 twice, while the AEK-971 scored 18 hits.
Since the restart of the AEK-971 program, KMZ has refined the rifle's parameters, decreasing its length and weight. The initial version of the weapon is designed to fire 5.45-mm. ammunition, but KMZ also developed modified versions for 7.62-mm. and 5.56-mm. NATO ammunition. The three versions share 80% design commonality. Compared with the AK-74, Isakov says, the AEK-971 has a more sophisticated design with more internal details but nevertheless is just as easy to maintain and can tolerate harsh operating conditions. The designers even made its partial disassembly routine, identical to that of the AK-47.
However, the AEK-971 has yet to be adopted by the Russian armed forces, a step that would facilitate both domestic procurement and export sales of the rifle. KMZ conducted preliminary tests of all three versions in 2006, Isakov says, and expects to start government acceptance tests in the near future. Various Russian military services already have purchased the AEK-971 in small numbers for evaluation.
But KMZ apparently sees a limited market for its new rifle. Early last year, the company decided to focus on producing equipment for the atomic energy industry, and subsequently began transferring its defense programs to the neighboring Degtyarev Plant, which already manufactures heavy-machine guns and anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. During the Soviet era, both companies made up a single defense facility in Kovrov but, after they were split up, cooperated closely on several defense programs.
It's still not clear whether the Degtyarev Plant will continue the AEK-971 program. This weapon and its competitor--Izhmash's AK-107--currently both have an uncertain future. The manufacturers have to risk investing to complete their designs while having no orders until the rifles pass acceptance tests by the Russian military. Potential export sales also await a military decision, because Russian law prohibits the manufacturers from selling their defense products to foreign customers independently, and Rosoboronexport won't add the rifles to its sales catalog until they are accepted by the military.
The Russian army does not appear to be in a hurry to choose a replacement for its AK-74 assault rifles, despite the need for it demonstrated in counter-terrorist operations in the North Caucasus. Unlike in the previous decade, the Russian military budget has begun to grow at a rapid pace during the past five years. Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov keeps repeating that the nation's armed forces need to be reequipped with modern weapons to deal with today's security challenges. However, infantry weapons are evidently not near the top of his priorities list.
Tony Williams
Military gun and ammunition website:
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk