UK Buys AKs to Train Ukrainian Troops 

Thanks for watching guys! Check out the accompanying article for sources and more images: armourersbench.com/2022/07/25/uk-purchases-aks-to-train-ukrainian-troops/

Ukrainian forces using/training with SA80’s? Haven’t they suffered enough?

I was thinking of those poor Welsh Guards who got to play with... err... test fire each rifle. So, what is the number of rounds fired through each weapon to meet "Official MoD" or Welsh Guards standards? It would be fairly high to meet my high standards. 😁

The use of 7.62 over 5.45 has alot to do with the lack of availability of 5.45 internationally. Anyone who Britain would be happy to buy from/would be happy to sell to Britain is already sending it straight to Ukraine or to their own stocks... 7.62x39 is far less in demand and is available in far greater stocks. Considering how much effort is going into moving 5.45 and other munitions into Ukraine, it wouldn't make sense to ship it to the UK when 7.62 works for marksmanship training and the manipulations remain the same.

As a Polish man whose grandfather during WW 2 was serving in Polish armed forces under British command . I admire those guys who train to fight for the safety of their homes , and their families . About Serbian made AKs ,you cant go wrong . I got one to semi-auto version on sport license . And i can tell you that . All you need to ad/ change in this riffle is enlarged safety switch , red dot sight , or small magnifation scope ( at best on the side mount ), beter muzzle brake / flash hider , possibly a front pistol grip , and modern sling . After that you got realy good weapon , and there is nothing more that i would expect from it.

This condensed infantry course looks excellent. Actually I wish I could go on it!

Well, tons of countries produce 7.62, while 5.45 far fewer in comparison. So it's far easier for NATO to supply Ukraine with 7.62

To the question as why they chose 7.62 over 5.45 is that Serbia (more specifically Zastava) has never made a AK74 pattern rifle in 5.45. An additional note you can see they also purchased ammo from Serbia. You can see the brown boxes of M67 ammo on stripper clips designed for the SKS.

Caliber choice makes sense. An American company in Wisconsin recently gave the Ukrainians one million rounds of 7.62mm. They asked in advance what caliber the Ukrainians wanted.

Considering the predominance of the M70 Zastava together with the lesser appearances of Hungarian and East German variants it is very likely that all rifles have been acquired from Croatia as a single purchase. While the Zastava variants need no explanation, for the other two it might be noted that: due to a severe rifle shortage (disarmament of the Territorial Defence forces by Yugoslav forces in 1990) Croatia had to import large amounts of Hungarian (and later ex-GDR) AK variants to arm its new military in the first years of its war for independence. Following its large military downsizing and switch to NATO standards (including the introduction of the domestic VHS rifle) in the last decade and a half, the country has been stuck with stored AK pattern rifles in the hundreds of thousands. Thousands have already been delivered to Western-supported groups in Syria the last decade. The Croatian government has also openly pledged to provide Ukraine with rifles back when the war started. Hence, why I consider Croatia to be the most likely candidate. Some may ask: why not Slovenia? Well, Slovenia's ten day war did not necessitate a comparable arms buildup. While Slovenian defense forces have also been seen with Hungarian AKs back then it lacks the presence of East German and other Eastern European variants that can be found in Croatia's much larger and exotically mixed (black market purchased) arsenal. Of course the rifles could have been sourced from both countries or even more sources. But why complicate deals and logistics if it is likely that one could get all those from a single NATO ally?

The amount of Aks we should have picked up over the years from Iraq and Afghan, yet there's nothing available or stored for a v rainy day and here we are buying kit (again). Still great training and probably the best contribution to date from the UK.

Being trained by the Brits will be tough training . A lot of speed marches or running around with pack, helmets, and rifles.

Nice to see the 1960's British army regulation mustache is still with us😂

the only countries that have M70 in larger quantities are: Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia (Balkans)

Makes sense from an availability and manual of arms perspective. I also suspect, there is a shit ton of x39 ammo in partner nations inventory. Zastava makes a good quality AKM pattern rifle, but that East German variant has my attention. Those are likely VERY sought after collectors pieces.

I think this is one of the most useful contributions we have made to the defence of Ukraine. NLAWS and Spartans are all very well but without lots of trained troops, Ukraine will soon falter.

Damn british multicam is pretty good.

I can't wait until the AK's come to the states as part kits!

Makes me upset knowing just how many AK variants I have destroyed around the world ( balklands, Iraq and afghan ) for the British army and now they are buying them 🫣

I have to be honest, if I was going forward, with limited resources and support, I would absolutely choose an AK. Too bad i don’t own one🇺🇸

Great info. Good to see the Ukrainians getting professional training.

With the targets at 3:04 one guy has a bloody good group on the right.

There are a few Chinese Type 56s there, the first chap with a tache is waving one about - possibly from Finland.

That instructors mustache is peak 🤩

I bet there's some British soldiers that are jealous of them actually getting to use Spartans for real. Although I guess they did get to use Scimitar in Afghanistan.

Some interesting comments. I would like to know how many posters have actual military experience as opposed to video games and Airsoft.

Re. The rifles being chambered for 7.62x39mm. AFAIK a lot of those bullpup AKs used by Ukrainian SF were in 7.62 too

It's weird seeing a British soldier holding an AK variant.

Great video I served in Yorkshire's finest X1X many years ago when I had a full head of hair and all my own teeth! And I'm always asked if I had my time again would I do it again and my answer is always yes. You became part of a huge family and a band of brothers, and sisters who you could trust your life with which is a lot more than can be said of today's society!

I saw a video yesterday of Ukrainian troops doing FIBUA training with old SA80s

AK 47 is more difficult to shoot than AK 74 because of more recoil. With the same manual of arms it makes sense to train with the more difficult gun.

There are large numbers of AK pattern rifles held in regimental museums, training cadres and associated museums, imperial war museum, other storage etc etc. This number could comfortably be met from these sources. This reminds me of the Mujahadin training courses we ran in the 1980s in Sennybridge and Brecon. The call went out then to gather AKs from various known sources, in similar numbers as I recall.

You just know that in 100 years some bloody lucky American is going to have a Zastava AK with British proof marks on it and we can't even buy them aaaaaaa Centrefire cartridges are of course, a threat to all human existence.

Ukraine produces its own 5.45 ammunition…every rifle I used, in the three months I was over there, was chambered for 5.45… For certain reasons; I can’t go into detail, but 5.45 is what they need to stick with at this stage in the war. Other weapons, H&K, Glock…came in from Poland and even Lithuania… I also carried a Makarov for my sidearm, I was one of the very few foreign fighters who carried one, being reserved only for Ukrainian Officers.

Makes sense. That's the most common type of weapon they will have access to in that part of the world. An AK47 field strips and operates exactly like an AK74.

I have not seen the Hungarian ones in action, as already mentioned, the Zastava ones need no introduction - the Serbian factories make excellent rifles and these were likely in good working order when purchased. The East German ones, if domestically produced, should also be in decent order. Though AKs can go for some time without maintenance, regular such would likely still be required, hopefully carried out. This probably means that Ukraine is having trouble training troops currently. Understandable, I guess... even for the resilience they have shown so far. And they are going to need every bit of that resilience and help before this completely tragic embarrassment of a war is over...

U.S. Army is swtiching their kit and there are a ton of 5.56mm weapons available. Using FMJ's they eat body armor for breakfast

where did they buy their AKs from? or where were they made?

I really want one of them M70's

After chewing up their cheeks & shoulders on these 7.62 under-folders, shooting an AK-74 will be a pleasant surprise.

That Corporal's moustache at the start was very nearly Royal Marines standard ... Joking aside these recruits are getting the very best training to keep them as safe and as lethal as possible. God bless them all and well done the Army.

That is a zastava m 70 from yugoslavia

UK bought these AKs probably from Croatia.

These M70 came from Croatian Army stockpiles.

Probably ammo available in quantity

somebody should teach them to properly adjust their plate carriers to cover their vitals! in my opinion their backplates seat way too low.

I wonder if some of the AKs are old IRA and loyalist guns kept in storage?

For anyone who has been there that's an unmistakable range.

using an east german ak for training is a tragic waist of rare variant that should be sold to purchase the multiple new ak s one is worth

them not training is 545 makes a big difference. yes its the same gun. but the way that round drops over distance is very different

But they are not using 7.62x39 in the fight.

I'd like to have those Yugo's

Brilliant work👍🇬🇧

Love the work keep up it

Did they use the ones from BATUS..?

Thank God

British Advisors +10 division organization +5 division defence

Why not AK-74? The recoil and the accuracy is pretty different. And yes, Ukrainian force use AK-74 style rifle.

I hope those M70ab2s stay in the UK. They look cool but suck to shoot. The wood stock ones would be a better choice.

They aint so expensive gets Even cheaper If you buy plenty.

The most shocking thing about this is that the British government had to actually buy them. Why not just dig up one of those nice housing estates with the big white X's painted on the grass?

Are you still interested in training manuals?

They’ve good kit given to them it’s ashame they’ve got to fight with AK pattern rifles in Ukraine

Blimey they are replacing the SA 80 early !

I wonder who they are buying them from. Somebody is making a lot of money out of supplying Ukraine 🤑

Are Chinese AK rifles of poor quality? I remember that Finland also bought Chinese AKs

In this video they are using Yugoslav M-70.

AK's? OK!

Seems a bit weird to buy AK47's and not 74's considering in Ukraine 5.45 is the most used cartridge.

That's right, buys my favourite rifle that I'm not allowed and the British Army doesn't officially use then teaches Ukraine how to use the rifle they're equipped with....😂

Come back alive Ukraine, Blue and Yellow a Lithuanian organization that supplies drones, or VestForUkraine which supplies vests and other much needed gear. These are all good places to donate even a little to help Ukraine kick the bad guys out of their country once and for all. Another good thing to do is write your government demand more action and sanctions against Russia or aid for Ukraine.

Makes me wonder why more countries don’t acquire more foreign pattern weapons, I see the US and their OPFOR units with AK platform rifles and PKMs all the time(granted they have been modded or designed to use common ammunition for the most part, though I think some are unchanged), why not more of this?

Ukraine produce their Own version of AK 47 and AK 74. Couldn't England give them SA80 or older FN FAL rifles ?

The proof house was full of AKs, so they obviously proofed everything before starting!

Welp, time to empty the police contraband lockers here in the USA. That should be enough to out fit about half a million right there.

Only very professional soldiers can handle the SA80, But it is always good to have a stock of AK47 They can shoot through walls and trees 🌳

can you render your videos with louder audio please? i can barely hear your videos on my laptop speakers.

You should do a video on the Zastava m77 rifle, it’s an ak platform chambered in 308 NATO

What happened to all the donated firearms that were donated in the beginning? They got Tens of thousands of firearms!

So Ukraine has run out of Soviet-era AK rifles?

1:10 holy safety violation batman

No worries about the instructors being shot in the back, like what happened in the totally wasted Coalition effort to train Afghans.

How will the Ukrainians know which gunfire is the enemy if both sides use aks and 7.62x39?

UK has 10's of thousand AK variants captured over many years. Why would they need to buy, really?

why did they blank out faces of these men but not the faces of the afgans army training ?

The thought of Orcs getting killed by rifles and ammo made in my country is a damn good feeling. Slava Ukrajini and get some!

Notice the preferred rifle in Ukraine is the dependable AK.

early june/july?

its zastava m70 ak

Again more people blasting the A2 when in fact it was the A1 that was crap and that the A2 is actually a very effective rifle. It's only the SA80 that suffers from this, the M16 doesn't eventhough the first M16 version (Vietnam) was a pile of crap and that US soldiers would ditch it for the older M14

These are all very heavy guns in weight

Got them from Russia direct apparently.

Nicholas Cage be proud.........

would prefer them to spend the money on fixing our power stations so i dont freeze and starve to death this winter.

It's nice to see the Brit's give some off their kit to the Ukrainians... hope there some left for their own soldiers

British troops, both regular and territorial, have had the chance to fire AK47's for years. No thanks.

The British trainor training Ukrainians with AK rifle. The British trainor is not even familiar with that weapon.

Hope they learn how to zero them properly

What's the chances that some of their trainers are Ghurkas?

2:59 Assuming shes a translator? Lol