M4-WAC-47

The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (April 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

The M4-WAC-47 is a Ukrainian-made assault rifle created by Ukroboronprom and American company Aeroscraft (a division of Worldwide Aeros Corporation).^[1][2] It is currently being tested within different sections of the Ukrainian Ground Forces and Border Guard and testing was estimated to be done around the end of April, 2018.^[3]

The purpose was to transition the Ukraine's military from using their stocks of aging AKMs to use new M16 Rifles and M4 Carbines. The WAC-47 would use up the 7.62mm and 5.45mm Soviet ammunition in storage and familiarize Ukrainian troops on how to use the M4 Carbine. They would eventually rechamber the weapons to use the same 5.56mm NATO round used by other NATO partners. This would gradually wean them from using Russian weapons to using NATO weapons. It would also reorganize their military industries to make a domestic copy of their eventual service rifle.

It used a 16-inch barrel because the 14.5-inch barrel of the M4 Carbine wasn't accurate enough with the 7.62mm Soviet cartridge. There were also plans to have it come in a 10.5-inch "commando" barrel for Close Quarter Battle scenarios and a 24-inch barrel for use as a Designated Marksman or counter-sniper rifle. It comes with an accessory forend similar to the three-rail NATO RIS on the M4, except it is an octagonal M-LOK seven-rail forend (with a Picatinny rail across the top and rows of M-LOK sockets along the other seven facets). The weapon, like most Stoner/Kalashnikov hybrids, used an M16-style magazine redimensioned to feed 7.62mm Soviet rather than standard AK magazines.

The weapon would have some obvious downsides. It would use corrosive ammunition in a weapon whose gas system would be vulnerable to damage. It would have the same "dirty" gas system as the M16, which would require frequent cleaning. Like Kalashnikov system weapons and other Stoner/Kalashnikov system hybrids it would not be able to use most of the accessories designed for the 5.56mm M4 Carbine. (The 5.56mm NATO round has different ballistics than that of the 5.45mm and 7.62mm Soviet rounds, as would the new rifle in comparison to the M16, AKM and AK74.) The rifle uses all new M16-style parts rather than configured to use at least some standard AK parts, magazines and accessories; this will make their stocks of Kalashnikov parts useless. It's also a brand-new design with teething problems to work through (much like the M16 it's based on had), even though there are a few off-the-shelf rifle designs like the and Colt CK901 that have already been developed and field tested. It would also require a commitment from the United States to support the adoption of the weapon system when it was clear a potential change in American government would leave them high and dry.

References[]