#Adoption

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, but the 5.45mm Degtyarov AEK-971 and 7.62x39mm AEK-973 will be procured for special units as well. This “two-tiered” rifle mix is not unusual in the modern era, but a formal, simultaneous adoption of two such weapons is quite strange for a major military such as that of the Russian Federation. From Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) [machine translated from Russian with corrections]:

The defense forces of Cyprus will soon be turning in their H&K 7.62x51mm G3 rifles for 5.56x45mm X95s in a recent deal between the government of Cyprus and Israeli Military Industries. The X95 is already seeing limited issue, most recently at an annual independence day parade held on the first of October. In addition to the G3s currently in service, the National Guard (active component, including reserves, not the same as the U.S. National Guard), also has AK74s in service that these X95s will most likely be replacing as well. Not pictured, but mentioned in the article is an “Accuracy sniper rifle, which has an effective range of three kilometres”. This is most likely referring to Accuracy International, and in particular probably the .50 BMG AX50 precision rifle, due to the long range specified, and the lack of a current anti-material rifle in the Republic of Cyprus’s inventory.

Earlier today, the United States Marine Corps Systems Command released a request for information (RFI) to manufacturers regarding the industry’s capability to fill an order for 11,000 new IAR-type rifles. You can read the RFI over at this link at FedBizOpps.

Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF), the state owned small arms, light weapons, and ammunition manufacturer has entered into negotiations and a Letter of Understanding to locally produce the CZ 807 rifle, in 7.62x39mm for a Pakistani Army contract, understandably replacing POF’s currently produced under license G3s and Type 56s. This is resulting from a year long process the Pakistani Army has undergone to fielding a new infantry rifle. Original contenders were Zastava, FN Herstal, Beretta, and CZ, among others. From what we see so far, the CZ 807 has been apparently chosen, with the results from the recent International Defense Exhibition & Seminar Exposition 2016 (IDEAS Expo 2016) being held in Karachi.

Soldier Systems Daily is reporting from Modern Day Marine that the U.S. Army’s Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System (CSASS) will be getting an upgrade from H&K in the form of Geissele rail systems, in particular it appears to be their Super Modular HK Rail that retails for $430. The rails are confirmed, but unconfirmed posts state that the barrel twist will become tighter with a 1/8 twist, and a change from the H&K 2 Stage trigger to a Geissele trigger.

The Land Component of the Belgian Armed Forces will soon be retiring the venerable 7.62x51mm MAG M2 (FN MAG medium machine gun) for FN Herstals 7.62x51mm Minimi Mk3. Specifically 242 machine guns will be bought with an order of 2 million Euros from the countries own FN Herstal. The article mentions that this will be enough to have 3 machine guns per platoon of 30, thus making it a squad machine gun. I’m not sure if this is how the Belgium Army operates or if it is a editing mistake, but previously having a medium machine gun per squad slows it down and is where the Squad Automatic Weapon concept importantly plays in.