The Vietnamese Defense Ministry has canceled a contract with Rosoboronexpot for organizing production in the country for the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles belonging to the "hundredth series". The decision to organize the production of one or another small arms on the territory of the country was made based on the results of a tender in which, in addition to Russia, Israel and China also participated. According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, the terms of this tender were standard. The subject of the competition was the creation of an enterprise in Vietnam that could produce up to 50 thousand automatic machines annually. At the same time, representatives of Rosoboronexport believed that their proposal was optimal for Vietnam.
Such confidence was based on the fact that the Vietnamese army had been using Kalashnikov assault rifles for a long time. The Vietnamese army has been using the AK-47 since the middle of the last century. In the event that the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles of the "hundredth series" could be established in Vietnam, the Vietnamese army would not have to massively retrain for a new type of weapon for itself. However, the Vietnamese military did not agree with this, they were embarrassed by the too high price of the Russian proposal. It is reported that the winner of the tender was Israel, which, according to Russian journalists, offered the smallest amount of the deal. According to Kommersant's sources in Rosoboronexport, the Vietnamese military was initially not interested in the PRC's proposal, allowing Beijing to participate in the tender purely for political reasons.
According to Kommersant, which cites its sources, the Russian proposal was estimated at more than $ 250 million. While Israel came out with a $ 170 million offer. What financial terms of the deal China proposed was not reported. Thus, in the very near future, not Russian AKs will be assembled in Vietnam, but Israeli Galil ACE assault rifles, which, ironically, are a further development of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
The fact that the Vietnamese military decided to focus on the localization of the Israeli machine guns ACE 31 and ACE 32 chambered for 7, 62x39 mm, the Vietnamese television channel QPVN reported at the end of January, which showed a story about the visit of the Minister of Defense of Vietnam Lieutenant General Nguyen Thanh Chung to the production plant weapons Z111, located in Thanh Hoa city. It is reported that the well-known company Israel Weapon Industries is engaged in the construction of a factory for the production of Israeli assault rifles. The cost of construction of the enterprise is estimated at $ 100 million. In the future, Israeli assault rifles will have to completely replace the obsolete AK-47 used since 1965 in the Vietnamese army.
The information about the loss of the competition by the Kalashnikov concern was actually confirmed by the new general director of the enterprise, Aleksey Krivoruchko. He attributed the high cost of the Russian proposal to Vietnam to high production costs. At the same time, Krivoruchko added that the concern expects to carry out optimization, which will not affect the number of workers in the workshops of the enterprise. At the same time, sources close to Rosoboronexport urge once again not to dramatize the situation, emphasizing that this is unpleasant, but it is impossible to talk about any losses.
For many years Vietnam has been one of the main importers of Russian military equipment and weapons. Over the past years, this Asian country has consistently ranked among the five largest clients of Rosoboronexport. At the same time, the loss of $ 250 million does not look so terrible: every year Vietnam purchases Russian military products worth at least $ 1.5 billion. On the other hand, the rejection of Kalashnikov is a precedent in modern military-technical cooperation between the two countries. The Vietnamese Ministry of Defense has publicly abandoned Russian-made small arms in favor of foreign counterparts. Konstantin Makienko, an expert at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, believes that price escalation is currently a fundamental problem for the entire Russian military-technical cooperation (MTC). A sharp increase in the cost of Russian military products is the main constraint on the development of military-technical cooperation, therefore, ways out of the current situation must be sought in the financial sphere.
The Israeli Galil ACE assault rifles chosen by the Vietnamese military - ACE-31 and ACE-32 - are identical to each other and differ only in the length of the barrel. Currently, the ACE is produced for export. The Israel Defense Forces are armed with the Tavor rifle, which is manufactured by the same company. At the same time, the ACE series of assault rifles is based on the Galil assault rifles, the design of which is based on the Kalashnikov assault rifles. In the line of Galil ACE assault rifles, models with the number 3 in the name (ACE-31 and ACE-32) differ in that they are designed for the use of the Soviet cartridge 7, 62 × 39 mm, they also use magazines from AK-47. According to military experts, the fact that the Israeli assault rifles are based on the Soviet assault rifle well-known to the Vietnamese will facilitate its adoption into service.
According to military expert Maxim Popenker, editor-in-chief of a large small arms website world.guns.ru, although in technological terms Galil ACE is close to AK, it is still a more modern and convenient small arms. The Israeli assault rifle has the best ergonomics, it is double-sided, it has the ability to install various attachments (scopes, laser pointers, flashlights, etc.). Also, the Israeli machine gun is equipped with an adjustable butt, which should please many undersized Vietnamese.
According to Maxim Popenker, a possible reason why the price of the Russian proposal turned out to be higher is that the AK was originally designed for large-scale mass production. The "hundredth series" is still based on Soviet technologies - on the AK-47, which was planned to be produced in millionth series. To produce such volumes of automatic machines, rather expensive equipment for stamping, etc. is required. It could pay off only if you planned to arm the armies of the USSR and its allies, the expert notes.
If we are talking about arming a relatively small army, then it is much more efficient to use conventional CNC machines, for which you can purchase a special program in order to cut out the necessary parts from pieces of metal. Such production is more complicated from a technological point of view, but at the same time it gives, in addition to gaining in product quality (stamped parts are less durable and stronger than those made by milling), and also savings on the equipment itself.
It is worth noting that Israel Weapon Industries is seriously targeting the international market. The Israelis have already built one factory for the production of Galil and Galil ACE assault rifles in Colombia, near Bogota. According to Agence France-Presse, the volume of serial production at this enterprise is 45 thousand machines per year. Currently, Israeli assault rifles are in service with the Colombian army, and are also supplied to other countries in the region. The IWI's official website talks about the supply of small arms to Peru and Uruguay.
Maxim Popenker does not exclude the possibility that Vietnam will be able to re-equip not only its own army, but also to supply machine guns for export, while paying royalties to the Israelis. From a business point of view, such a deal may well be formalized, it makes sense. At present, a fairly large, but at the same time, complex market has formed in Asia, in which it would be much easier for local countries to agree among themselves.
It should be noted that the Kalashnikov concern is not doing as badly in other sales markets as in Vietnam. According to Aleksey Krivoruchko, in 2014 the concern is going to start organizing an assembly production of small arms in India. The planned capacity will be 50 thousand units of products annually. In addition, the Izhevsk enterprise will continue to fulfill its obligations to build a plant in Venezuela for assembling Kalashnikov assault rifles of the "hundredth series".
