The AK-47 was widely supplied or sold to nations allied with the USSR and the blueprints were shared with several friendly nations (the People's Republic of China standing out among these). Its firepower, ease of use, low production costs, and reliability was perfectly suited for the Red Army's new mobile warfare doctrines. It was finalized and adopted shortly after World War II and entered widespread service in the Soviet army in the early 1950s. The Soviets simply held a design competition to develop a "Sturmgewehr" or assault rifle of their own and the winner was the AK-47. The development of the AK-47 was rather straightforward. A replacement was needed: a medium between the traditional philosophy of powerful accurate rifles such as the M14 rifle, and the light-weight firepower of the M2 Carbine. Combat experience in Vietnam showed the M14 was anachronistic. This culminated in the development of the M14 rifle which was basically an improved M1 Garand with a 20 round magazine. Army’s studies into World War II combat accounts came up with very similar results to that of the Germans and Soviets, the Army maintained its traditional views and preferred powerful accurate semi-auto rifles. Army's was influenced by combat experience with semi-automatic weapons such as the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine, which enjoyed a significant advantage over enemies armed primarily with bolt-action rifles.
This lead to development of a 7.62x39mm select-fire rifle to replace the SKS. The Soviets realized that bolt-action rifles, submachine guns, and semi-auto rifles were obsolete. The Soviets were influenced by combat experience showing that their soldiers were consistently outgunned by German troops, especially those armed with the Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifles. The Germans sought to develop a select-fire rifle combining the firepower of a submachine gun with the accuracy and range of an intermediate powered rifle. The Germans were the first to pioneer the assault rifle concept, based upon research that showed that most firefights happen within 300 meters and that contemporary rifles were over-powered for most small arms combat. They have faced each other in countless conflicts both large and small, and have spawned comparisons and controversy since the early 1960s. Two of the most common assault rifles in the world are the AK-47 and the M16. M16 (top) and AK-47 (bottom) assault rifles
0 kommentar(er)
