Country of origin |
Russia |
Entered service |
? |
Caliber |
5.45x39 mm |
Weight (without magazine) |
3.3 kg |
Length |
960 mm |
Length (with folded stock) |
720
mm |
Barrel length |
420
mm |
Muzzle velocity |
880
m/s |
Cyclic rate of fire |
900 rpm |
Practical rate of fire |
40 - 100 rpm |
Magazine capacity |
30 rounds |
Sighting range |
1 000 m |
Range of effective fire |
500 m |
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The AEK-971
assault rifle was designed as a possible replacement for the
AK-74.
Its development began in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. This
assault rifle was first publicly revealed in the early 1990s. The AEK-971 competed
against the
AN-94 and some other new designs. Eventually it lost competition to
the AN-94, that was selected due to a slight accuracy edge and
was officially adopted by the Russian Army and Ministry of Internal
Affairs in 1994. Only a few small batches of the AEK-971 have been
produced to this day. These were issued to selected Russian army and
law enforcement units for trials and evaluation. The main reason why
the AEK-971 was never adopted is its insufficient advantages over
the AK-74.
The AEK-971
is a gas-operated, selective fire weapon. It is based on the AK-74
design, but uses a so called "balancing action" to counter recoil.
As a result in full-auto mode the AEK-971 has 15-20% more accurate
than the AK-74. This weapon is also capable of 3-round burst firing.
Early prototypes of this assault rifle had a cyclic rate of fire of
a whooping 1 500 rounds per minute. On later models it was decreased
to 900 rounds per minute. Design of this assault
rifle differs from the
AK-74
design, though some parts are interchangeable. This
weapon is simple in design and is cheap to manufacture. Balanced
recoil system was also applied in
AK-107, AK-108 and AK-109 assault rifles.
This assault
rifle is chambered in 5.45x39 mm ammunition. Though there are its
versions chambered in 7.62x39 mm (AEK-973) and standard NATO 5.56x45 mm
ammunition (AEK-972).
The main
advantage of the AEK-971 is its 3-round burst mode. This assault
rifle is capable of single shots, 3-round burst and full-auto
firing. A safety/fire mode selector is located above the pistol
grip. It is improvement over the AK-style safety/fire mode selector
lever.
Weapon is
fed from standard 30-round magazines, used by the AK-74. It is also
compatible with 45 round capacity magazines of the
RPK-74
light machine gun. Different variants of the AEK-971 can be
easily recognized by their magazines, as these have different
curvatures.
The AEK-971
has a skeletal side-folding metal stock and polymer housing.
This assault
rifle comes with iron sights and has a sighting range of 1 000 m.
Range of effective fire is around 500 meters. This weapon has a side-mounting rail, that can mount scopes and night vision
sights. Recent versions of this assault rifle have standard Picatinny-type
scope and accessory rails.
The AEK-971
can mount bayonet, or 40-mm underbarel grenade launcher.
Variants
AEK-971S is
a version with a collapsible telescopic stock.
AEK-972 is
an export version version, chambered in standard NATO 5.56x45 mm
ammunition. This weapon is also compatible with standard NATO (M16-type)
magazines.
AEK-973 is a
version, chambered in 7.62x39 mm ammunition. It is compatible with
all standard
AK-47,
AKM
assault rifle and
RPK
light machine gun magazines. This weapon has a side-folding
skeletal metal stock.
AEK-973S is
a 7.62x39 mm version, with a collapsible telescopic stock.
A545 is an
updated version of the AEK-971. Number in the designation denotes
5.45 mm caliber. It has an ambidextrous fire mode selector. This weapon has a diopter-type sights with rear
rotary drum. It comes with a standard Picatinny-type scope rail.
This assault rifle was tested by the Russian army.
A762 is an
updated version of the AEK-973. Number in the designation denotes
7.62 mm caliber. It has an ambidextrous fire mode selector. This weapon has a diopter-type sights with rear
rotary drum. It comes with a standard Picatinny-type scope rail.
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