Russia to Start Mass Production of Chukavin Sniper Rifle (SVCh) Within Two Years

Back in 2016, Kalashnikov Concern officially introduced the SVCh Chukavin Sniper Rifle (Снайперская Винтовка Чукавина – СВЧ) which was initially called SVK. The gun was designed to replace the venerable SVD Dragunov Sniper Rifle, however, up until now, there was no information concerning in what scale and when it is planned to be supplied to the Russian military. In an interview given to Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Sergey Urzhumtsev, the chief engineer of Kalashnikov Concern, told that within the next two years, they will start the mass production of SVCh rifles which will be delivered to regiments throughout the Russian military.

According to Urzhumtsev, they’ve been working on meeting the requirements of the Russian military since 2017 and within two years the works should be finished and mass production of Chukavin Sniper Rifles set up. He added that despite the SVD had satisfactory characteristics during its service history since its adoption in 1963, it is not capable of meeting the new requirements. Urzhumtsev also noted that every military and LE organization in Russia is interested in the new rifle, however, the largest customer is, of course, the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Interestingly and ironically, the SVCh rifle is largely based on a general design concept pioneered by Yevgeny Dragunov, the inventor of SVD. One of the main design features of SVCh is that the bolt carrier group is running on a top rail underneath the upper Picatinny rail. Such a solution relieves the stresses from receivers thus allowing to make them completely out of polymer and have a much lighter weight weapon. This design solution was first introduced by Yevgeniy Dragunov in a compact assault rifle called MA back in the late ’70s.

Does this news mean Russia is indirectly (or accidentally) announcing the adoption of the Chukavin rifle? Is there a chance that the project will be canceled within the stated two year period? As we’ve seen multiple times in the history of military trials, everything is possible. We’ll make sure to follow the developments around this weapon system and deliver the news to our readers. Stay tuned!

Sources:

“Серийное производство винтовки на замену СВД начнут в ближайшие два года”. (2019, November 11). RIA Novosti. Retrieved from: https://ria.ru/20191111/1560788150.html

Images from www.kalashnikov.media