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Kalashnikov arms producer to fine-tune new version of PPK-20 submachine-gun

The Kalashnikov chief also outlined the plans of upgrading the soldier’s entire combat gear, which would be comprehensively altered, from its protection system to small arms and communications and all related items

MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. The Kalashnikov Group within the state tech corporation Rostec is developing integrated soldier gear and will fine-tune the PPK-20 submachine-gun’s new version by the yearend, and upgrade the gear’s small arms, Kalashnikov Group CEO Vladimir Lepin told the Zvezda TV Channel at the Army-2021 arms show on Friday.

At the Army-2021 international military-technical forum, the Kalashnikov firearms manufacturer presented the upgraded version of its PPK-20 automatic weapon based on the Vityaz-SN submachine-gun developed for specific tasks of the Russian Defense Ministry.

"This is a full-size model. And we promised to the defense minister that we would finalize it by the yearend and carry out all the required tests. At the end of the year, the submachine-gun, we hope, will be among those items that the Defense Ministry may need," the company’s head said.

The PPK-20 submachine-gun uses pistol-type ammunition and has been upgraded for specific tasks — now featuring a folding buttstock to cut its dimensions, a silencer, and improved Picatinny rails, he added.

"The Company had worked on that actually for a year. We finalized this major work dubbed Vityaz-SN that began back in the late 1990s. We worked on the submachine-gun customized for the Interior Ministry’s tasks as this involved the 9x19 mm caliber, which was needed," he pointed out.

The Kalashnikov chief also outlined the plans of upgrading the soldier’s entire combat gear, which would be comprehensively altered, from its protection system to small arms and communications and all related items, he said.

"As for the weapon system, it will also undergo radical changes. We demonstrated this new approach to the defense minister the day before yesterday and the minister agreed with that," he specified.

The upgrade of small arms aims to enable the soldier to gauge the distance to an object of destruction so that a rifleman does not have to think about how to strike it, Lepin said.

"In small arms, we have approached precisely this technique and shown that modern weapons and striking systems must meet the challenges that will face our armed forces. In the first place, this refers to new ballistic solutions that had never been mentioned before and have become essential today," he said.

The Army 2021 international military-technical forum is being held at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center outside Moscow on August 22-28.

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