According to Russian news agency TASS, as a result of the official visit of King Salman of Saudi Arabia to Russia, a memorandum was signed between Saudi Arabian Military Industries and Russian Rosoboronexport State Corporation. The memorandum is about the purchasing of Russian arms and arranging licensed manufacturing of AK-103 rifles and various types of ammunition in Saudi Arabia.

Besides the memorandum, the two parties have also signed a contract with the general terms of arranging the licensed manufacturing of the mentioned firearm. There is no information concerning what types of ammunition Saudi Arabia will start producing based on the signed documents.

AK-103

AK-103 is one of the 100-series AK rifles. It is similar to AK-74 in appearance, however, it is chambered in 7.62x39mm caliber. The AK-103 along with other variations of 100-series AK rifles have been exported to a number of countries. Its manufacturing has been earlier licensed to Venezuela. Reportedly, there are also ongoing negotiations to license the manufacturing to India, too.

Interesting to note that armed forces of Saudi Arabia already use the AK-103 rifles along with a huge diversity of other rifles in service. The licensing of the manufacturing is probably associated with the intention to increase the number of AK-103 rifles in the Saudi Arabian armed forces.