It seems that the play called "ak-12" is approaching its natural ending. After boasting statements about fifth-generation weapons and their superhuman capabilities, the good old AK-74 with minor modifications was presented to the world at the Army-2016 exhibition, which, perhaps, will add marketing appeal to it, but cross on the introduction and replacement of AK- 74M will be delivered for sure.
The defect of the sample, which was presented for the first time under the brand name "ak-12" in 2010, was immediately visible to specialists. The editor-in-chief of the magazine "Kalashnikov" M. Ye. Degtyarev was the first to speak about the idea of a new machine gun in a negative way and, in order not to steal a glorious brand, wrote it with a small letter. I joined this symbolic gesture, so hereinafter we will talk about "ak-12".
Part one. Phenomenon.
The emergence of the idea of a new automaton is inextricably linked with two parallel processes. The collapse of the army by its minister and the destruction of the Izhmash engineering school were gaining momentum. The Ministry of Defense not only destroyed entire institutions, but also revised the functions of the Ministry of Defense as a customer. If in the system created by D. F. Ustinov, the army and the developer worked in symbiosis, creating and selecting the best, then in the system created by Serdyukov, the army turned into a merchant. Previously, the army was a generator of ideas, having a powerful analytical apparatus, it could predict trends in the development of weapons, process huge amounts of information and clearly develop tactical and technical requirements for new weapons. As an example. The effectiveness of firing a high-rate deuce in the AN-94 seems obvious, but the task was originally set to cut off for three shots. When adopting a sample with the best characteristics, the customer cannot operate with comparative or superlatives. We need specific numbers. After a lot of work carried out at the test site under the "Abakan" program, it was found that shooting with a high-rate deuce from the AN-94 is 1, 4 times more effective than firing a conventional troika from the AK-74. That is why the initial requirements for the three-shot cutoff were changed in favor of a two right in the process of testing.
Under the new minister, the ministry turned into a capricious young lady who knows what she wants, but does not know what she wants. The functions of the customer were not reduced to the development of requirements, but to the assessment of the proposed. "You offer, and we will see - to buy or not to buy." One can even forgive such a point of view if one admits that common sense has finally been defeated in Russia by capitalism. But the lordly manner of modern compradors, sewn at the genetic level, cannot but humiliate the manufacturer. “Your machine gun is out of date. Come up with something new. Otherwise, we will buy the French FAMAS”.
The manufacturer most often gets off with a red Picatinny rail cap. Normal engineering personnel have long been gone, and where they exist, there is no normal funding for R&D. That is why all manufacturers are marking time around the once created and tested AK or SVD scheme. For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that our eventual opponents cannot tear themselves away from the decisions of half a century ago.
With the appearance of Serdyukov in the Ministry of Defense and Kuzyuk at Izhmash, some movements began at the plant lying in a coma. How and where the Kuzyuki and other general-Dima come from is unknown. Kuzyuk, frightened by his appointment to such a position, appointed Zlobin, a Tula engineer, to the post of chief designer, and set about searching for a siskin, which needed to be eaten and "works of the human mind", which had to be "dumped into a waste pit" (c). This is from Saltykov-Shchedrin, if anyone has not read the classics. The Chizhiks turned out to be the workers of the Izhmash KOTS, the top-class gunsmiths, head and shoulders above Zlobin. They were forced to leave the factory. Alexei V. wrote about this in his blog "Izhmash plant, the manufacturer of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, was killed." This blog is currently unavailable for obvious reasons, but a copy of the article can be easily found on the Internet. And the work of the mind, presumably, was the work on the AK-200, which was carried out at Izhmash. I suspect that it was an assault rifle with balanced automatics, possibly from the battery that took part in the Abakan competition. The ambition of the newly-minted weapon genius declared the AK-200 a myth (dumped into a pit) and revealed the AK-12 to the world.
The analysis of the first photographs and the information received about the AK-12 raised the first doubts, and the interviews with Kuzyuk and Zlobin - the confidence that the people had slipped a chupa-chups. For example, it was announced that on the basis of "Ak-12" "we will create a submachine gun and a sniper rifle." Two-rate shooting was planned in the machine. Why is it for a sniper rifle or a submachine gun?
The Ministry of Defense assured that they issued the requirements for the new machine back in 2010. What are the requirements? The development of new weapons has always been carried out through a competition or in the light of new commodity-money relations through government orders. And only with the appearance of the "Warrior" theme, something more or less orderly began in the dances around the new machine. A normal competitor has appeared - AEK.
In the very first tests, what should have happened happened. The assault rifle failed the test. But not by the discrepancy between the parameters of the technical requirements, but by the key indicator of all Kalashnikov assault rifles - reliability!
Part two. Convulsions.
Further tests of the Ak-12 were denied. Rather, government funding for development and testing was denied.
Kuzyuk finally got rid of the need to pose in front of cameras, clumsily holding a machine gun.
Busygin's appearance on Izhmash brought a fresh stream of media to the media. Once a month, he began to issue PRs like a stove: cooperation with Beretta, our own cartridge production, our own testing and certification center, to which all Americans should come with their new weapons, and so on. Zlobin was noted for two mock-ups of bullpups, which surfaced at some exhibition and disappeared into eternity. Meanwhile, the working class, driven to despair by the non-payment of its already miserable wages, found the last strength in itself to go to a picket in Moscow. Mikhail Timofeevich made a direct request to the authorities to save Izhmash. Rogozin intervened in the matter, he not only knew how to hold a machine gun, but also shot well.
Rogozin proposed to create a concern on the basis of two factories, one of which was completely bankrupt, and the other - Izhevsk mechanical plant was rather dead. The old designer still believed in the decency of the leaders of his fatherland and gave the concern its name. He did not live to see the time when the management of the concern began a shameful lawsuit with his relatives for a trademark with his name, which belonged to them by right and law. The pinnacle of Busygin's rule was the logo of the concern, developed by an unknown student, which the whole world made fun of. The compradors did not understand what they became the owner of. After all, there were agencies and designers who were ready to develop the concern's logo for FREE, just to have their name next to the name of Kalashnikov! And if that were the only folly of the new leadership!
So, on the official website of the concern, a West German firm was listed as a trading partner. When clicking on the link to this company, the user went directly to the website of a small arms company - a direct competitor of Izhmash. The name of this company is Schmeisser GmbH. Izhmash's advertising materials featured the American M-16 rifle.
Saving an ordinary concern from bankruptcy looks like this. He receives a guaranteed order from the state and a financial loan from Sberbank, and the concern is transferred with giblets and debts to private hands for the obligation to participate with his capital. Be that as it may, Busygin disappeared after Kuzyuk. The failure of Zlobin's tests was so obvious that his departure was a matter of time. The new leadership faced a toothache with a gun again. From the same place where Kuzyuk pulled out engineer Zlobin, Krivoruchko pulled out an athlete-consultant Kirisenko. This was immediately reflected in the machine. Multi-caliber, modularity, ambidextrous and other picatinny models appeared, including the ability to “recharge with one hand”. The timing of the completion of the AEK tests and the decision-making on the "Ratnik" began to shift suspiciously. PR campaigns started again in the media space. Kirisenko, Segal, Vickers and other stars flickered. Finally, it was announced that both machines were tested for compliance with TTT and transferred to military trials. The final appearance of the machine was unknown, and its appearance was promised to the people at the "Army-2016" exhibition.
Part three. Apotheosis.
And so everyone saw the final version of the "fifth generation" machine gun. But no one saw in him ambidextrousness, modularity, multi-caliber, and even more so the possibility of "reloading with one hand." Before us lies the good old AK-74 with modifications that do not in any way pull for rearmament, but at least look like a normal military weapon, unspoiled by sports or glamorous wishes.
What happened? Apparently, the management of the concern realized that the weapons were developed by engineers, and not by athletes or ambitious lone designers. A sliding stock, a Picatinny rail, a diopter sight, a two-round cutoff firing mode and a lightweight bolt carrier. Here is the result of several years of "creation of the fifth generation machine gun." But this was the only way to get out of the impasse into which the AK-12 was driven by ambitious self-made women and effective managers.
An analysis of all the design features of the AK-12 will take a separate topic. I will confine myself to small.
Picatinny rail. There is no more wacky innovation in military small arms than the Picatinny rail and front "tactical" grip. Both came from sports. The effectiveness of the front handle was tested back in the era of the creation of the AK-47 and AKM. At the same time it was found out that the weapon needs it like a cow's saddle. The Romanians were not convinced. At the beginning of the new century, marketing geniuses convinced athletes that they would look cooler with grips. And until 2015, the athlete was not an athlete, if he did not hold his carbine in the manner of the German MP-40. At the 2015 World Cup, massive enlightenment happened - the pens disappeared. But they appeared in the set of the famous modernization of the AK-74M in the Russian Army. For soldiers, enlightenment comes much faster than for athletes.
And yet, picatinny. A universal interface to connect is great, whether it's a USB connector or a docking station on a space station. But not in arms.
This is the athlete's hand when gripping the opicatinized forend.
And this is the hand of a field soldier.
With such a grip on the fore-end, he not only shoots, but can also lean his weapon on the ground or strike with a butt or bayonet. What calluses he will rub at the same time, I think, there is no need to explain.
The distance from the eye to the rear sight of an open sight or collimator is not critical. In this case, the length of the butt does not play any role. But when using a diopter, too long a stock will not allow the eye to reach the diopter, and too short will allow the same diopter to drop into the eye. So these two innovations (diopter and sliding stock) are interconnected. If the diopter allows you to aim more accurately, then in turn it takes more time for this, moreover, after dirt gets into the hole, it is not cleaned with bare fingers. These truths are a hundred years old. These innovations do not give any advantage.
Cutoff for two rounds. Above, I have already said that only a high-tempo (1800 bpm) two makes sense. Another position of the switch, of course, diversifies the number of manipulations when handling weapons, but why is this needed at the usual pace of 600-700 bpm?
A lightweight bolt carrier, a "redesigned" gas outlet and other little things, this is not something that can radically change the tactical and technical characteristics of a weapon.
The concern's statements about the mythical two-fold superiority of the AK-12 over the AK-74 are nothing more than a bluff. If you wish, you can more accurately calculate this "superiority" in specific numbers, as was the case with the cutoff example. Obviously, there is no multiple superiority. AEK does not have it either. I don't want to further develop my thoughts about the position of the Customer or his competence. But we love to wang. Wangyu, the story of the AN-94 will repeat itself. Like a farce. It doesn't matter what they will accept there: "AK-12" or AEK. They release a couple of years and will announce the next "Warrior".
