A new interesting weapon was found in the hands of a russian invader in Ukraine by open source researchers from the "Tysk" National Information Portal. They spotted this one on russian social media and identified the weapon as the A-545 automatic rifle.
This is basically a modernization of the Soviet AEK-971 assault rifle, developed in 1978 for Project Abakan. The developers were trying to create an automatic gun with "drastically better characteristics in terms of accuracy and precision".
Read more: Ukrainian Troops will get IFATDS Automated Field Artillery Control Systems from USA
Years later, the modification of this rifle named A-545 was taking part in a contest in russia for becoming a general-use assault rifle in 2013-2015. As far as known, the A-545 was officially adopted by the russian army in 2018, and the serial production of this weapon started only in 2022 by the "Degtyaryov Plant" (ZiD). The guns were expected to go to airborne assault forces.
The rival of the A-545 during the tests was the AK-12. In fact, the A-545 slightly outperformed the AK-12 in terms of accuracy and reliability, especially in single mode and short bursts thanks to its balanced action which reduces the recoil.
However, according to Modern Firearms, it still was the AK-12 that was adopted as the general main weapon of the army while the A-545 was recommended for special forces.
"When compared to conventional designs, balanced action rifles tend to be noticeably more expensive, require more care and attention during maintenance and cleaning, and need more muscle strength to cycle the action," the media notes about the A-545.
As for the AK-12, Defense Express earlier reported that russian weapons makers recently found a radical solution to this rifle's flaw which is to make the muzzle brake unremovable. Here we explained why it was a bad idea.
Read more: The russians Found a Radical Solution to the russian AK-12 Rifle's Flaw, and It's Hilarious
