A shipment of 6,000 Kalashnikov AK-74M assault rifles of the latest version have come into service with combined-arms and reconnaissance units of the Central Military District (TsVO) under the state defense order, Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Kuzin, the acting head of the TsVO missile and artillery weapons service, has said.

Last upgrade of the AK-74M, with laser sighting system, Picatinny rail, bipod and light, as issued to security forces (Picture source: Vitaly Kuzmin)

"The district has received six thousand 5.45 mm AK-74M assault rifles fitted out with the Obves modernized equipment sets. The new assault rifles have got the Picatinny rail, which makes it possible to fix any detachable equipment, which is included in the set: daylight and night sights; laser target designators and lights. They have a length-fixed gunstock for convenient shooting and improved loading cases made out of a transparent polymeric material, which controls ammunition consumption. A possibility of using a bayonet or a rifle attached grenade launcher has been preserved," Kuzin said.

The officer clarified that assault rifles meant for reconnaissance units had been fitted out with additional universal attachments for noiseless shooting. "The universal modernized equipment set of the Kalashnikov assault rifle makes it possible to raise 1.5 times the efficiency of weapons employment by criteria of "frequency of destruction" at a distance of up to 300 meters in any time of the day in various climatic conditions," Kuzin explained.