Vietnam unveils STV-410 7.62x39mm assault rifle


On its Facebook page, VietDefense reports that Factory Z111 and the General Department of Defense Industry developed a new rifle that resembles a Kalashnikov. It’s designated STV-410 7.62x39mm assault rifle. It can be considered the Vietnamese version of an AK-15.
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STV-410 7.62x39mm assault rifle (Picture source: Facebook page of VietDefense)


Some of the information is still classified and won't be available. But, as the name suggests, the barrel length of the weapon is 410mm and it fires the traditional 7.62x39mm round that has been a staple of almost all Vietnamese firearms. The optic placement in this photo isn't realistic and is likely just for show - heck most normal troops will be using the standard rifle sights anyways. It appears the weapon still has a full size stock in comparison to other newer Vietnamese guns with foldable variants.

Creating a modern Kalashnikov outside of Russia honestly isn't that difficult and well within the capability of the Vietnamese defense industry. Remember that Z111 gained license production of the Galil ACE line of rifle in 2014 and proceeded to localize the designs with traditional Kalashnikov component....aren't the AK-15 and Galil ACE both just modernizations of the original Kalashnikov done by two different countries?

Give a Galil ACE receiver an AK stock, add AK style firing selector switch, keep picatinny rails, use thinner handguard, and you have something that somewhat resembles where the Russians went with their AK-15. Vietnam's other STV rifles were also formed by localizing the Galil ACE with more Kalashnikov components.

Hopefully the STV-410 isn't a dead end project. Seeing as the STV-380 was already chosen as the next generation Vietnamese service rifle (mass production has already been carried out), one can wonder what this rifle will be used for.