The good news for IWI continues to roll in: Army Recognition relays an Interfax report that Vietnam will shortly begin license production of the Galil ACE 31 and 32 rifles. This contract, which will produce rifles to supplant the ageing AKM rifles in use by the Vietnamese Army, does not represent a new relationship between IWI and Vietnam, the latter having used Galil rifles and Negev machine guns in limited and specialist roles for a few years now.

Interestingly, the new Vietnamese ACEs will retain the 7.62x39mm caliber of the AKM, making Vietnam one of a handful of first and second world countries which have not adopted small caliber high velocity ammunition (another example being Finland). It’s not clear if the Vietnamese ACEs will also continue to use the durable-but-ancient-and-very-heavy AKM magazines, or a newer design.