During the Army 2019 International Forum held near Moscow, the national weapons trade mediator Rosoboronexport announced a number of contracts with the international customers for the small arms supply of military and civil application.

“The Russian industry produces full range of close combat weapons which have proved their indispensability in actual combat situations, thereby earning reputation and respect in many countries worldwide. The new contracts not only demonstrate strong and steady demand for the Russianmade small arms and grenade launchers and related ammunition, but also indicate a global trend of increasing demand for effective equipment to counter crime and terrorism. Rosoboronexport is ready to meet this demand in full,” said Rosoboronexport’s Director General Alexander Mikheev.

Russia has been actively promoting national civil and service weapons on the world market. The range of products includes the ORSIS T-5000 rifles, Saiga-9 and Saiga-12 carbines, MR-18 shotguns, Viking pistols among the many. The State mediator is confident that India and South East Asian countries is one of the most promising market for all the systems above as well as for the Vepr carbines, civilian versions of the Tigr sniper rifles.

According to Alexander Mikheev, the first contracts on the matter have been already signed with a number of unspecified nations. It looks like Russia’s counterparts were not named in a view of the existing USA sanctions to prevent unpleasant consequences for the buyers.

After the adoption of amendments to the Russian Law on Weapons in 2017, Rosoboronexport was granted the right to export civil arms to extend its traditional scale of the military-grade, law enforcement and security forces ones which has been delivered to the partner countries over decades. The new situation has simplified a procedure to deliver all range of combat and civil small arms from a single source.

It looks that despite the US unfair sanctions won’t prevent the customers from various Asian nations including police, special forces and even hunting and shooting clubs to purchase the Russian small arms.

Meet the characteristics of the most popular Russian civil weapons below.

Vepr-12 VPO-205-01

Smoothbore Weapons. Combat Semiautomatic Smoothbore Carbines.
VPO-205 is currently one of the most effective tactical smoothbore rifles, capable of accomplishing a wide range of missions facing security services. Its modular design allows tailoring the weapons to the specific needs of the customer, while the availability of special brackets ensures the detachable equipment is mounted in a manner that meets the requirements of the user. The weapon is reliable and demonstrates flawless operation when firing all types of 12 Gauge cartridges. The steel frame patterned after the RPK light machine gun provides the weapon’s immunity to deformations, as well as its fault-fee operation in various adverse conditions.

Main Characteristics

SAIGA 9

Self-loading carbine
The Saiga-9 self-loading carbine is a derivative of the PP-19-01 Vityaz-SN submachine gun. Its design utilizes the blowback operation principle. The weapon is fitted with a metal skeletal folding stock, plastic fore grip and a pistol grip. It features an open sight. The carbine has a receivermounted Picatinny rail to allow for optical and collimator sights to be installed at user’s discretion. A lock has been introduced in the design of the trigger to exclude butt-folded firing.

Main Characteristics

TIGR 308

Carbine
The Tigr 308, ver. 02, is patterned after the SVD sniper rifle. It has a plastic skeletal butt with a rotatable cheek pad. The fore grip is made of plastic. The receiver has a side rail for optical sights. The weapon features an open sight. The barrel is fitted with a smallsize flame suppressor.

Main Characteristics