After the independence of Ukraine , significant reserves of Soviet small arms (including Kalashnikovs) remained in the territory of the country, the amount of which seemed excessive in connection with the reduction in the number of armed forces .
In addition to exporting assault rifles, in the 1990s, attempts were repeatedly made to modernize or re-equip Soviet-made Kalashnikov assault rifles for the needs of state power structures of the country and foreign customers, as well as converting them into civilian weapons for commercial sale on the domestic market.
History
In 1994, the Vepr 7.62-mm self-loading hunting and hunting carbine was made from the AKM assault rifle , which was equipped with two magazines - 5 and 10 rounds (to meet the requirements for civilian hunting weapons established in accordance with the current weapons legislation ) A demo was presented at the Weapon-95 weapon exhibition in Kiev, but was not mass-produced [1] .
In 2001, the first 5.45-mm Vepr assault rifle was manufactured from the AK-74 assault rifle, which was tested in the special unit "Titan" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine . In addition, one 5.45-mm special Vepr sniper rifle (also known as the Vepr-2 ) was made under the Sniper-1 program [2] . Later, in 2001-2003, the Kiev Scientific and Technical Center for Precision Engineering on the basis of AK-74 developed the 5.45-mm Vepr assault rifle, which was proposed to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine , but was not put into service and was not produced in series.
On July 14, 2005, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a decision to reduce the stockpiles of small arms of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (including AKM assault rifles) [3] , and on November 23, 2005, the Ukrainian government signed an agreement with the NATO Logistics and Supply Agency (NAMSA ) [4] , under which it pledged to begin the destruction of excess stockpiles of weapons and ammunition in exchange for the provision of material and financial assistance.
On March 1, 2006, a decision was made to reduce the stockpiles of small arms of the civil defense forces of the Ministry of Emergencies of Ukraine (including AKM and AKMS assault rifles) [5] .
In 2007, NPO Fort developed options for the modernization of Kalashnikov assault rifles (with the installation of a picatinny rail and folding telescopic stocks ) for special units of the SBU and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine [6] . Later, at this enterprise, the conversion of Soviet AKM assault rifles into self-loading carbines for sale as civilian weapons began. They were produced in several modifications and versions: AKM-MF (AKM self-loading version), AKMS-MF (AKMS self-loading version), “ Fort-201 ” and “ Fort-202 ” (AKMS-MF with a folding metal butt), “ Fort -205 ”(AKM-MF with a wooden butt),“ Fort-206 ”(AKMT-MF with a new plastic forend, barrel plate and telescopic butt).
At the same time, the Kharkov company SOBR LLC launched the production of self-loading conversion versions of Kalashnikov assault rifles under the name Vulkan self-loading carbines . The weapon was produced in several versions: 7.62 mm self-loading carbine "Volcano M" (AKMS); 5.45 mm self-loading carbine "Volcano T" (AKS-74) and 5.45 mm self-loading carbine "Vulcan TK" (AKS-74U).
On May 26, 2010, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a decision on the disposal of 214,334 pcs. small arms (including 97 625 pieces of AK-74 assault rifles and 62 084 pieces of AKM assault rifles), which should have been destroyed [4] . On February 29, 2012, a decision was approved on the disposal of an additional number of machines [7] .
On October 10, 2012, the Mayak factory in Kiev patented an upgrade option for AKM and AKMS assault rifles by installing a folding metal butt from AKS-74 on them [8] . In 2013, the plant mastered the conversion of Soviet 7.62-mm AKM and AKMS Kalashnikov assault rifles from storage depots of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine into self-loading hunting carbines with a 10-shot magazine [9] [10] :
- MKM- 072 (AKM with a full-time permanent stock),
- MKM-072Sb (AKMS with folding butt from the AKS-74 assault rifle),
- MKM-072Sn (AKMS with the saved full-time folding stock).
After the outbreak of hostilities in the spring of 2014, there were cases of using modernized models of Kalashnikov assault rifles in the army (with the installation of sighting strips, muzzle brakes, sights, etc.).
Also, work was resumed on the creation of a conversion machine according to the bullpup scheme (which received the name " Malyuk ") [11] .
On April 4, 2015, the “ GOPAK Operational Portable Rifle ” was introduced (which is a conversion of a 7.62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle into a non-automatic weapon with manual reloading and a silencer for the sound of a shot ).
In April 2015, at the Volunteer Expo exhibition in Kiev, a demonstration sample of a 7.62 mm AKM assault rifle was presented, which was initiatively redesigned after the 2003 Malyuk assault rifle by senior lieutenant of the Kiev-2 battalion Roman Sapalov [12 ] . The representative of the weapons workshop Natalya Kutskaya told reporters that the cost of remaking one AKM machine according to the proposed scheme is 5200 hryvnias [13] .
Notes
- ↑ Anatoly Anatolyev. Bullpap carabiner // Arms and Hunting magazine, No. 12, 2010
- ↑ Anatoly Ananiev. The first Ukrainian Bullpap // Arms and Hunt magazine, No. 2, 2001
- ↑ Rose order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 264-r vid 14 Lipnya 2005 r. "About the closed transfer of the Vijsky lane of the Zbroynih Forces, as it may be better"
- ↑ 1 2 Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1085-r vid 26 May 2010 "About the disposal of construction materials"
- ↑ Rose order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 241 view 1 birch 2006 b. “About the consolidation of the vijskoy lane of the vivsk civil defense, as it may be better”
- ↑ Galina Moiseeva. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will have the most modern weapons // "Theme" of June 20, 2007
- ↑ Rose order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 108-r vid 29 fierce 2012 p. "About the disposal of construction materials"
- ↑ Open / folding metal butt for the Kalashnikov’s automatic modifier system. Ukrainian Patent No. 73901
- ↑ "Ukroboronprom" was recognized in the sale of 27 thousand automatic machines for private companies at the price of children's games // "Our pennies", type 7 of the fall of 2014
- ↑ Strіletska zbroya // official site of the Mayak factory
- ↑ Serhiy Luhovskoy. Our goal is to have the Malyuk rifle replace Soviet-desighned 5.45 / 7.62mm AK weapons in Ukraine // Ukrainian Defense Review, No. 2 (April - June 2015), pages 46-49
- ↑ Oleksiy Trigub. “Agent” and that machine gun at “new obgorttsі” // “Krila Ukrainy” from 09.28.2015
- ↑ Superweapon from volunteers: lightened the machine gun, created a machine gun and assembled a medical machine // “Today. UA ”dated April 14, 2015
Links
- KNPO “Fort” official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (Vinnitsa)
- VOLKAN carbines // official site of SOBR LLC (Kharkov)