6,000 Obves upgraded AK-74s delivered to Russian Central Military District troops

The commanding officer of the rocket and artillery armament service of Russia’s Central Military District, Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Kuzin, said on 8 July that the combined arms and reconnaissance units within his district have received “6,000 AK-74M assault rifles with the Obves upgrade kits”.

Lt Col Kuzin said that “the universal modernisation kit for the Kalashnikov assault rifles allows for the increase in the weapons effectiveness by one and a half times at 300 metres based on the ‘destruction rate’ criteria, at either day or night time and in different climates”.

He said the upgraded assault rifles issued to the reconnaissance units will be supplied with “a universal accessory for suppressed fire”.

The Obves upgrade kits are officially designated as the KM-AK, which stands for ‘komplekt modernizatsii – avtomata Kalshnikova’ or ‘upgrade kit – Kalashnikov assault rifle’.

Sling, stock, pistol-grip, and index finger operable fire-selector plate fitted to an AK-12 (pictured) are also supplied with the KM-AK Obves kits. (IHS Markit/Miko Vranic)

The KM-AK Obves kits include many of the features that were introduced with the AK-200 series rifles. The AK-200 represents a further development of the AK-100 series and was initially designated as the AK-100M (‘M’ for modernised). It was rebranded as the AK-200 series in 2018. Most of the improvements introduced on the AK-200 series relate to ergonomics.

The KM-AK includes the AK-200 series’ multislotted combination flash suppressor and compensator (allocated a GRAU index code of 6Ch63.13), handguard, index finger operable fire-selector plate, left-side-folding telescoping buttstock, and finger moulded pistol grip – the last three items are also used on the AK-12 and AK-15 assault rifle series. In addition, a new sling and vertical forward grip are also supplied with the kits.