Russian army cancels purchases of Kalashnikov automatic rifle

Sep 27, 2011, 10:15 GMT

Moscow - Russia's army for the first time in a half-century will not buy any Kalashnikov automatic rifles, a senior military official said Tuesday.

'We have ten times more of them in our warehouses than we currently need,' said Nikolai Makarov, Russian army commander. 'So we're not going to buy any more.'

The Russian army had instructed the manufacturer of the AK-74 automatic rifle, the Ishmash works in the central Russian city Izhevsk, to develop a weapon with longer range and more accuracy, the news agency Izvestia reported.

'What we have now, we are no longer satisfied with,' Makarov told the Interfax news agency. 'We want to equip troops with something more modern.'

The Soviet military first adopted an automatic rifle designed by former Red Army soldier Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1947. The AK-47 became the world's most widely-distributed military rifle.

As with all Kalashnikov designs the updated version of the AK-47, the AK-74, is known for its ruggedness and reliability, but the weapon is sometimes considered poorly-adapted for use with night vision sights, or for precise shooting.

Izhmash is working on a variety of possible replacements for the AK-series rifle, including weapons using NATO-standard ammunition, or partially made of lightweight composite materials.