Z111 also Produce STV-380 and STV-215

24 Juli 2020

STV-380 rifle (photo : VietDefense)

Vladimir Onokoy- Assistant to technical director - marketing of Kalashnikov Concern Group recently published an analysis article about manufactured STV-215/380 rifles Vietnam.

Expert Vladimir Onokoy talked about some of the new AK variants developed by Vietnam's Z111 factory, but he said the prototypes seemed to be just a side project. The main purpose of Z111 is to produce STV-380 and STV-215 - two new types of assault rifles of the Vietnamese Army.

Both rifles were announced some time ago, but only recently have high-quality images been available in the "Competitive Gunner" broadcast on Defense Television. Mr. Onokoy thinks that anyone interested in Vietnam's small arms can expect a lot of good information from future episodes.

STV-215 rifle (photo : VietDefense)

Returning to the main issue, in 2014, Israel and Vietnam IWI Group signed an agreement to completely transfer weapons production technology. Very little is known about the actual terms of the agreement, exactly what Vietnam-made rifles will look like or when production will actually begin.

Mr Onokoy said, "When I visited Vietnam's defense exhibition DSE-2019 in October last year, all these questions were still unanswered. Surprisingly, a reality show was finally paid. both of the above questions.

Both STV-380 and STV-215 are essentially Galil ACE variants, based on Israel's old Galil design, while Galil is based on the Finnish RK-62 rifle, which corresponds to the so-called is Type 3 AK (Polish and Soviet production).

STV-380 rifle with ACE IWI GL 40 underbarrel grenade launcher (photo : VietDefense)

But if we look closer, it's clear that both the STV-380 and STV-215 have some differences from the original design. First of all, the hand holding the breech pedestal on the left side of Galil ACE was brought to the right side. That makes sense because the Vietnamese military is accustomed to standard AK variants, of which this is on the right.

STV-380 and STV-215 do not have side safety lock. Instead, the classic AK-style lever is located on the right.

The Galil ACE's adjustable length grip has been replaced by the classic non-adjustable metal frame, inspired by the old Galil and FN FAL Para variants. The square underlay with a Picatinny rail also looks like a modernized version of the older Galil from the 1970s.

In general, rifles appear to be very well made at the Z111 factory and they look attractive, but to draw a full conclusion, you have to check the rifles yourself and test them.

(BaoDatViet)