\"Rosoboronexport\" is offering countries in Southeast Asia not only direct deliveries, but also the organization of licensed production of the latest small arms. An official company representative told TASS this on the sidelines of the Defence Services Asia 2026 exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.
The display, built around the \"weapon-ammunition-sight\" principle, included AK-15, AK-19, and AK-308 assault rifles chambered for the calibers popular in the region, .223 Remington and .308 Winchester, the belt-fed RPL-20 light machine gun, Lebedev pistols, the PPK-20, and the Chukavin SVCh sniper rifle.
The emphasis is on reliability in humid tropical conditions: barrel chrome-lining technology and thermal load reduction are used. A number of models have already undergone combat testing.
Southeast Asia has traditionally been a zone of influence for American and Chinese arms makers. The Russian offer, with the possibility of localized assembly, changes the balance of power: the customer gets battle-proven firearms tailored to local ammunition logistics. For Kalashnikov and other manufacturers within the group, this means utilization of production capacity and entry into a market where Western models had dominated until recently.
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