Russia’s Kalashnikov Concern have announced the delivery of another initial batch of improved AK-12s. The AK-12 Model 2023 has a number of small but significant changes including the removal of the earlier AK-12’s two-round burst function, a new stock with [Read More…]
Adopted by the Russian military in 2018, the AK-12 rifle has since gone through several revisions that resulted in some design changes such as the replacement of the AR15-style stock and the introduction of the one-piece polymer pistol grip/trigger guard. Kalashnikov [Read More…]
AC-Unity, a firearms and accessories manufacturer from Bosnia and Herzegovina, in collaboration with a Turkish company has developed an AK-12 magazine clone. Like the original Russian AK-12 magazine, the AC-Unity clone is also a 5.45x39mm magazine, has a 30-round [Read More…]
In the previous article about the history of the AK-12, I talked about the “Ratnik” program and the earliest known prototype of the rifle. Now, it is time to talk about the second and third prototypes, which will be much easier, since I was personally [Read More…]
In the last 75 years, dozens of different Kalashnikov variants were developed all over the globe. At least 32 countries produced various AK rifles, hundreds of engineers tried to improve them. But, in all these years, not a single new variation of an AK has received as [Read More…]
During the ARMY-2021 exhibition, Kalashnikov Concern introduced two new versions of the AK-12 rifle designed to meet the requirements of Russian special forces. The new rifles are called AK-12SP (АК-12СП) and AK-12SPK (АК-12СПК). Let’s take a closer look [Read More…]
Hot on the heels of Kalashnikov Concern’s brand new 5.56x45mm-chambered AK-19, Russia’s leading small arms company have introduced a new and improved AK-12. The new rifle includes a number of slightly tweaked ergonomic features that were developed in light [Read More…]
Despite the ongoing pandemic, the largest Russian annual arms exhibition, ARMY, was not canceled and started as scheduled. During this exhibition, Kalashnikov Concern introduced several new small arms products including a new LMG, a smart shotgun and the AK-19, a [Read More…]
Back in March, we reported that the special forces of the Western Military District had been issued with the Russian Army’s newest rifle, the AK-12. The Russian government recently announced that the 144th Motorized Rifle Division deployed in the Smolensk Region [Read More…]
Russian state news service TASS has reported that 35,000 new 5.45x39mm AK-12s have been delivered to the Russian army. With deliveries continuing apace this indicates that Kalashnikov Group are on track to meet their target of delivering over 110,000 rifles by 2021. [Read More…]
About a year ago TFB reported that the Russian Military had ordered 150,000 brand new AK-12 and AK-15 rifles. Just about a month ago we saw the Russia’s Spetsnaz in the cold with their new AK-12s and now it’s time for the Special Forces of the Western Military [Read More…]
Operators from Russia’s 24th ObrSpN (or 24th Spetsnaz Brigade) have appeared in a video from a recent training exercise equipped with the new AK-12 5.45x39mm rifles. The short video shows a Spetsnaz team intercepting a truck to acquire ‘valuable [Read More…]
Kalashnikov Media, apparently inspired by IV8888, conducted a meltdown test of AK-12, the latest iteration of Kalashnikov rifle that was recently adopted by the Russian military. They fired this 5.45x39mm rifle in full-auto rapidly changing the magazines until the [Read More…]
Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has announced that the first batch of 8,000 AK-12 rifles were issued to the units of the Central Military District of Russian Armed Forces. The personnel will get familiar with the new rifles in the proving grounds located [Read More…]
A couple of months ago we reported about the prototype of a civilian AK-12 rifle that was being tested by competition shooters in Russia. That rifle had a model designation Saiga-AK12. Several days ago, Kalashnikov Concern announced that 2,000 deactivated AK-12 rifles [Read More…]
Kalashnikov Concern has announced that 2,000 AK-12 rifles will be deactivated and sold to the civilians in Russia. In fact, you can already find these dummy rifles listed on the KC’s website at an MSRP of 19,900 roubles which is about $315. The model designation [Read More…]
The Moscow Victory Day Parade takes place on Red Square each year on May 9. It is dedicated to commemorating the anniversary of victory in World War II. From the standpoint of small arms enthusiasts like me and you, it is always interesting to watch it because often [Read More…]
According to Russian news sources, the Russian Ministry of Defense has agreed a contract with Kalashnikov Concern to purchase the first 150,000 new AK-12 and AK-15 rifles. The adoption of the AK-12 and AK-15 was first announced back in January 2018. The 150,000 rifle [Read More…]
Sureshot Armament Group sent us a tip with pictures of a rifle that will soon become the civilian version of AK-12. The new rifle is called SAIGA-AK12. The pictures are from testing of this rifle conducted by George Gubich (six-time IPSC champion of Russia) in the [Read More…]
The history of the new generation of Kalashnikov assault rifles is quite complicated and often very scandalous. In 2013, Russian Ministry of Defense refused to finance the R&D for AK-12, over the years there were a lot of sudden and controversial design changes, and [Read More…]
AK-12 and AK-15 rifles were adopted by the Russian military at the beginning of the current year. These rifles inherited the best features of the AKM/AK-74 and added a number of small design changes that bring the good old AK to the 21st century. Although most of these [Read More…]
Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the press secretary of the Ministry of Defence of Armenia, has published on his social media pages a post announcing about a contract signed between the Kalashnikov Concern and an Armenian company called Royalsys Engineering Ltd concerning the [Read More…]
With the recent official news that the new AK-12 and AK-15 rifles have been adopted by the Russian Ministry of Defense it’s with interest we with Kalashnikov’s help can take a deeper look into how the rifles were developed and engineered. Nathaniel F [Read More…]
The Russian Defense Ministry has made a decision regarding its next infantry rifle: It will adopt everything, it seems. Not only will Russian Army forces receive the improved 5.45x39mm AK-12 (the new AK-12, not the different previous version), and the 7.62x39mm AK-15, [Read More…]
As you can see from our recent articles, Kalashnikov Concern has introduced a number of new products during the ARMY-2017 exhibition. Besides the firearms which we wrote about in separate articles, there were many other new products that are either not entirely small [Read More…]
According to Russian news agency TASS, the Kalashnikov Concern officials have informed them that the AK-12 has successfully passed all the government tests and trials and it is planned to be adopted by the Russian armed forces. The key phrase is “planned [Read More…]
As you know, Russia hasn’t yet made a final decision which one of the new AK-12 and AEK-971 assault rifles to adopt. Both firearms are being extensively tested and issued in small quantities and both seem to be adequate to be adopted. Recently, Russian [Read More…]
According to RIA Novosti and TASS (Russian news agencies) Land Forces of Russian Federation started issuing “Ratnik” (Warrior) kits to the troops. As covered earlier on TFB, Ratnik includes a number of upgrades to existing weapons and gear, as well as new equipment. [Read More…]
The AK-12 is dead. Long live the AK-12! That’s the song Kalashnikov Concern is singing this week at the recent ARMY 2016 expo in Moscow, Russia. The radical AK-12 prototypes that have dominated Kalashnikov’s press over the past two years are gone, replaced [Read More…]
Color me insanely jealous. Russia is one of the few countries I did not have the pleasure to travel extensively during my tenure in defense sales. While I got to play with rifles in India, the Middle-East and SE Asia, I was never fortunate enough to play direct with the [Read More…]
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