Leaders of the Global Arms Market. Assault Rifles

By Vladislav Grinkevich. 

The same model of an assault rifle (or a machine gun) may be critically acclaimed as the world’s best rifle or attained as an absolutely obsolescent weapon. The matter is that there is no general criterion for evaluation of such a weapon – many rifle models have been developed for specific applications based on the national military doctrine, production conditions, etc. Moreover, despite repeated attempts to develop “the future machine gun”, most armies in the world use machine gun systems based on the solutions developed during the 1940-60s.


Which Rifles Are Classified as Assault Rifles?

The term “assault rifle” (German: Sturmgewehr, English: Assault rifle) is vague and conditional. In the early 20th century, this term was applied to automatic rifles that basically looked like hand-held machine guns, and since the mid-20th century to compact automatic machine carbines designed for the intermediate cartridge. Though, traditional automatic rifles were sometimes called “assault rifles”.

In Russia, the term “assault rifle” is often applied to any American or European prototypes of military individual firearms such as the American M16 rifle or the German G3 rifle. The former uses 5.56×45 intermediate cartridges while the latter uses 7.62×51 rifle cartridges. In the Western countries, the main rifleman’s weapon is often referred to as “rifle” (the term used in the M16 military specifications), “carbine” or “karabinek” (in Poland).

In this article, the term “assault rifle” or “machine gun” will be applied to a compact-size automatic carbine with the total length of up to 1 m and a barrel of up to 50 mm, using the intermediate cartridge with a caliber of up to 6 mm (5.45×39 mm, 5.56×45 mm, 5.8×42 mm). Of course, this classification is conditional because some assault rifle models such as the Belgian FN SCAR rifle are available in two main caliber versions, i.e. full automatic and semi-auto types. In addition, the multi-caliber option is one of the most important trends in the development of modern firearms.

There are a lot of criteria to evaluate machine guns/assault rifles: reliability, accuracy, structure innovativeness, ergonomics, design, versatility and production costs, distribution, etc. The value of one or another factor depends on objectives and conditions of the weapons application, specific national military doctrine, versatility level, production development level, etc.

For example, high accuracy, advanced ergonomics and wide tuning options make the U.S. AR-15 rifle (the civil version of the M16 rifle) very attractive for sporting shooters. In sporting shooting range conditions, the reliability factor pales into insignificance. The module structure and optional replacement of barrels and calibers may be important for special forces, when a weapon needs to be customized for a specific operation. But all these quality factors are not very important for a grass roots army. Finally, for a long-term operation of the machine gun in severe conditions, the top priority is given to its reliability under such conditions and to easy maintenance. We may recall that in the USSR one of the requirements for weapons was the possibility for their long-term warehouse storage (for decades) under considerable temperature difference conditions. At appropriate time, this factor in many respects predetermined polymer-free solutions for the structure of main assembly units.

 Born by the Cold War

Today, the following standard configuration of the assault rifle is mostly used: a gas-powered automatic mechanism with a long/short-stroke piston located above the barrel, plus a rotating bolt to lock the action.

In the second part of the 20th century, Western countries and Russia made several attempts to develop breakthrough solutions, and to drastically increase accuracy and possibility for one-shot target killing. Arms designers tested multi-bullet cartridges, replaced conventional small arms projectiles with feathered arrows and developed the so-called carriage-mounted configurations (blowback shifted pulse weapon systems). With such systems, the shooter could feel the recoil effect only after a couple of shots. There were some attempts to implement weapons utilizing caseless ammunition. All these experiments got nowhere – for different reasons. Due to relatively non-standard solutions, only the bull-pup configuration was implemented, featuring the chamber, magazine, and trigger and firing mechanism located behind the fire control lever.

As a result, many modern rifle models are based on the configurations developed during the 1940-60s. In the 21st century, enhancement of the existing systems due to application of advanced materials (light alloys, polymers), module structures and multi-caliber options, improved ergonomics and design has become the most promising trend in the firearms development.

It is reasonable to discuss those weapon models that are the most widely-spread and hyped by media, because developments (even rather successful) made by small little-known companies are not likely to compete against well-known brands such as FN, Heckler & Koch or Kalashnikov.

We may single out three platforms that are the most popular in the world’s arms market:

  • systems based on the Kalashnikov machine gun and development of the AK platform;
  • various modifications of the U.S. AR15/M16 rifle and its development;
  • U.S. AR-18 rifle platform.

In addition to these three platforms, there are a large number of “independent” systems that have been used in systems developed from scratch.

 Constructor Set for Kalashnikov

Amongst the above-mentioned platforms, the AK platform is the oldest one with its well-known pros and cons. The advantages include high operational reliability in extreme conditions and easy maintenance, plus versatility and low costs in mass production conditions. The disadvantages include the ergonomics that leaves much to be desired: inconvenient fire mode selector/safety lock, troublesome installation of optical and collimator sights, one-sided retracting handle, etc., as well as the accuracy that has never been an advantage of the AK rifle.

In fact, commercial companies have learned how to efficiently solve the majority of problems related to the AK platform and also proposed options for its development. Attachments kits allow to customize the Kalashnikov ergonomics for requirements for modern firearms. Israeli Weapons Industries (IWI) Ltd. has managed to get rid of many defects in ergonomics of the latest modifications of the Galil АСЕ rifle (in terms of design, it duplicates the Kalashnikov rifle). This weapon is available with three caliber options (5.56×45 NATO, 7.62×39, 7.62×51 NATO) with a different length of barrels. The rifles are equipped with a bolt stop (unlike the AK rifle), integrated Picatinny rails for attachments installation, a telescopic gun butt, etc. In recent years, the Galil АСЕ rifle has managed to deprive the Kalashnikov rifle of its leadership in arms markets in Colombia and Venezuela.

AK rifle’s commercial model – the Alfa system developed by САА Kalashnikov-Israel and represented in 2016 is announced as a modification intended to improve the ergonomics of the Russian rifle with the unchanged reliability of the AK platform. The first prototypes of the Alfa system feature the barrel, receiver, and mechanisms of the Saiga carbine (Kalashnikov civil version) that are put inside a plastic case with an integrated fire control lever, an adjustable butt, a trigger, and a magazine well. Plus, its barrel receiver is modified to install an aluminum cover with the Picatinny rails. The cover is rigidly attached to the dovetail rail in the front part of the barrel receiver and fastened with a cross pin in the rear part of the barrel receiver. The similar method to fasten the cover is used for the AK-12 rifle, which is now under operational service tests, and also for the Saiga 107 carbine with a balanced automatic mechanism.

Russian Concern Kalashnikov has proposed its own customization option – a specially developed AK-74 upgrade kit (telescopic butt, modified barrel receiver cover and fore grip with the Picatinny rails, etc.) that, according to the developers, enhanced the efficiency of the machine gun application 1.5 times. Today, Concern Kalashnikov is executing the state order to upgrade a certain amount of weapons stored in Russian MoD’s warehouses.

What Does the Swiss Assault Rifle Look Like?

There are a number of rifle models that cannot be referred to as “upgraded AK rifles”, but they may reasonably be considered the development of the AK platform, such as the Swiss military SIG-550/551 rifle and its civil semi-automatic versions. The barrel receiver of this rifle consists of two parts: the top part (the barrel is attached to) and the bottom part (housing the trigger and firing mechanism) interconnected with cross pins. The barrel is built in the top part, similarly to the design of the U.S. AR15/М16 rifle. This configuration is preferable for reliable attachment of optical and collimator sights. At that, the bolt carrier and the bolt of the Swiss rifle resemble the design of these assemblies used for the AK rifle.

The SIG-550 is believed to combine high operational reliability and high accuracy. This rifle is the response to those skeptics who suppose that the AK platform is not fit for accurate shooting.

At 2015 Shot Show in Las Vegas, M+M Inc., an American manufacturing company, demonstrated the M10X rifle intended for civil applications. The design solutions were based on the Kalashnikov rifle configuration and on the Swiss SIG SG 550 rifle, too. The М10Х rifle has the two-part barrel receiver and main assemblies of the AK rifle. Another similar model is the ARK rifle developed by Creative Arms. The developers represent their product as a hybrid of the Soviet AK rifle and the U.S. AR-15 rifle. In particular, this rifle, like the М10Х model, has a two-part barrel receiver that allows to use light alloys and plastic materials in its structure.

However, experts say that such crucial modernization deprives the AK platform of its main advantages, i.e. simplicity and reliability.

 Aluminum and plastics

The advantages and disadvantages of the AR platform are also well-known. The AR15/М16 rifle produced by U.S. company ArmaLite was designed to embody as many technological innovations as possible at the time of development (early 1960s). Wide use of aluminum and plastics allowed to develop a lightweight and easy-to-handle rifle. The use of the so-called direct gas outlet system (i.e. powder gases are removed into a cylindrical bolt carrier), along with a lightweight bolt carrier assembly, a moderate blow back speed and small gaps between moving parts provided high accuracy of the new rifle. These solutions also reduced its reliability and affected its sensitivity to contamination and the powder quality.

The advantages of the AR platform (module structure, customization options) along with an aggressive marketing policy made the AR15 rifle and its multiple clones popular commercial products in the arms market. The international standing of the USA helped the М16 rifle and its M4 carbine modification significantly deprive the Kalashnikov assault rifle of its competitive advantage in the firearms market.

The most questionable component in the AR15 structure – the direct gas outlet system – became the stimulus for development of new models based on the new American rifle. In 2005, German company Heckler & Koch represented the HK416 rifle as an attempt of German arms designers to come to the U.S. arms market for military and police applications. With the design and most assemblies of the new rifle derived from the M16 rifle, the main difference was the replacement of the direct gas outlet solution with the gas piston system derived from the same German G36 rifle. In addition, this rifle featured an improved bolt carrier and a barrel with extended service life. Later, such models were brought to the market by the Swiss SIG – SIG 516 tactical rifle, the U.S. Barrett – REC7 rifle, etc. Today, these models are the most well-known assault rifles.

 The Second Face of ArmaLite

ArmaLite developed the AR18 rifle in 1963. The company focused on reliability, low costs, and the weapon versatility to enable its manufacture in countries that did not have required capabilities for hi-tech arms production. The new assault rifle was unlucky – it successfully passed field tests in the USA, but the U.S. DoD had already put into service the M16 rifle promoted by Colt, the arms market behemoth. The AR18 failed to find the appropriate position in the world arms market, because it had already been split amongst the Belgian FN FAL, Soviet AK, and American M16 rifles. Until 1979, no more than 20,000 AR18 rifles were produced, and then its production in the USA was shut down.

However, its suitable configuration appealed to manufacturers from other countries. The British L85 assault rifle actually duplicates the AR18 design, but also features the bull-pup configuration. George Sullivan, one of the AR18 rifle designers, developed the similar SAR-80 model for CIS, a Singapore company. Eventually, Heckler & Koch developers used the AR18 design solutions to develop the new G36 assault rifle. This G36 model was proved successful and known as the tender winner that had surpassed 10 other models as the best weapon for the Bundeswehr.

The reputation of the German assault rifle was damaged by its field application in the Middle East - its barrel was overheated during intense firing, affecting its accuracy, that is why the full automatic fire mode was not recommended for the Bundeswehr soldiers. Later, it was found out that the munitions supplier company was responsible for this overheating defect, but an unpleasant aftertaste remained.

The Belgian FN SCAR rifle is an in-house development implemented in the early 2000s under order of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) of the U.S. DoD. The distinctive feature of the FN SCAR is its unique futuristic design and wide application of plastic materials in its structure: the bottom part of the barrel receiver is made of plastics while the top part, of aluminum. Quick-change barrels are fastened to the top part of the barrel receiver and may be replaced in a matter of minutes. At that, the internal parts of the Belgian rifle feature are quite standard ones – an automatic mechanism with a short-stroke gas piston.

As one of the main trends in the world arms market for rifle designers, the FN SCAR is used by law enforcement agencies almost in 30 countries. One way or another, many rifle models developed in recent years such as the Beretta ARX, AK Alfa, and Czech CZ 805 Bren automatic rifles display the design features of the FN SCAR rifle.

The Czech CZ 805 Bren rifle is considered quite an interesting model. It features the standard configuration, i.e. the powder gas discharge from the rifle bore and a rotating bolt, with an aluminum alloy receiver and a polymeric trigger and firing mechanism. The Czech assault rifle won the tender where its main competitor was the FN SCAR rifle.

Demonstrated in 2010, the Polish MSBS (Modułowy System Broni Strzeleckiej) Radon rifle is very similar to the FN SCAR rifle. This assault rifle is available in two versions – the standard or bull-pup configurations. The Polish rifle disassembly procedure is very similar to the procedure for the Belgian rifle.

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