AN 94 United Kingdoom Army

The AN-94 (sometimes called the "Abakan") is an advanced Russian assault rifle. The initials stand for Avtomat Nikonova (after chief designer Gennadiy Nikonov) Model 1994; The AN-94 was the declared successor to the legendary Kalashnikov series of rifles after the 1980s Soviet Military conducted the extensive Project Abakan advanced assault rifle trials. Gennadiy Nikonov's system reportedly outperformed its many remarkable rivals significantly. Proving better still than the most advanced Kalashnikov ever, the 'AKB' designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov's son, Victor Kalashnikov. Thus the Nikonov AN-94 was commissioned for adoption by the Russian Military, with mass production scheduled at the traditional home of the Kalashnikov, the historic Izhmash state factories.

The AN-94 is unique in that it uses both a recoil- and gas operated system something the Russians refer to as a "blowback shifted pulse" system. The stated great advantage of the blowback shifted pulse system is its ability to 'postpone' recoil to the shooter, until after the round/s fired have left the weapon. This, it is claimed, enables more 'hits' on target under the most adverse combat conditions. The AN-94 offers a two-shot burst function at a stated 1800 shots per minute rate of fire. Simply, the Nikonov mechanism 'sneaks' a superfast second round into a one shot recoil cycle. This, in theory, increases the 'hit' probability, as well as penetration of body armor. It was chosen over many other competing firearms in an extensive trial, including the AEK-971 design by a team led by Sergey Koksharov.

The AN-94 was designed at the Izhmash state factories, as a replacement for the AK-74 assault rifle currently in use in the Russian military. Currently, the Russian military has chosen to retain the AK-74M as its standard service rifle and the AN-94 is only being issued to the elite forces of the Russian military, some Russian police forces, and the MVD. An interesting fact about the AN-94, setting it apart from almost all other Russian weapons, is that it is not sold to foreign buyers although Venezuela has shown interest in either acquiring the AN-94 or developing an indigenous assault rifle based on the AN-94s recoiling barrel mechanism. Peru also requested a purchase of 580,000 AN-94s to replace the Peruvian army's HK33s but the purchase order was dropped in favor of an indigenous Peruvian rifle, the FAD which also makes use of a recoiling barrel system.