66-Croatian VHS Assault Rifle
The VHS Assault Rifle is a type of weapon designed by Croatian weapons designer Marka Fenko Vukovic.
The Croatian War in the early 1990s led to Croatia's successful independence from the former Yugoslav Federation. During the war, the Croatian army mainly used weapons that were various derivatives of the AK-47 from the former Yugoslav Federation period. Some militia or special forces units also used FAL or SAR80 to participate in the war.
In 1992, during the Croatian War, a design team led by Marko Vukovic of the Croatian private industrial parts company I.M. Metal Works (HS Produkt) was developing a new bullpup assault rifle. . They first produced a bullpup variant of the 7.62mm Kalashnikov assault rifle.
However, this rifle has many design flaws. One of the reasons is due to the limited R&D and production technology capabilities of the I.M. Metal Factory, and the other reason is that during the Croatian War, most of the manufacturing industry All are affected, and quality is the biggest problem among early products.
More prototypes were later shown in 1996, 1999 and 2004. In the mid-1990s, a model with delayed recoil was tested, but the results were still unsatisfactory, and it was replaced by a nose base similar to the M16 rifle.
After a development cycle, finally around 2003, news about the VHS automatic rifle began to be shown. In 2005, HS Produkt announced a new prototype gun that looked very similar to the Israeli IMI TAR-21 and submitted it to former Croatian Defense Minister Belizlav Londrofok for testing. However, the differences between subsequent production models and the 2004 prototype gun were significant.
On November 19, 2007, the Croatian Ministry of Defense ordered a batch of 50 rifles for the Croatian contingent of the International Security Assistance Force deployed in Afghanistan for actual combat testing.
Large-scale production will begin at the end of 2008, with field testing expected to be completed. Other countries including Kuwait and Venezuela have expressed interest in purchasing a batch of VHS assault rifles.
Because the weapons of HS Produkt are very popular, there is a very popular pistol HS2000.
On November 24, 2008, HS Produkt introduced the final version of the VHS assault rifle at that time. The first batch of 40 rifles has left the factory and is used for testing. After the initial testing phase, an additional 1,000 rifles were produced. And it was tested by Croatian soldiers in the first three months of 2009. After confirming the excellent performance, the Croatian army ordered another 2,000 rifles to be put into service.
In 2012, the VHS rifle became the new official rifle of the Croatian army. In 2013, the Croatian army had 3,600 VHS rifles in service. At the end of 2014, the last batch of 2,000 rifles was also delivered to the Croatian army. , while replacing various AK-47 and AKM derivatives that have been in service for many years.
According to the regulations of the Croatian army, they require 17,000 brand-new VHS assault rifles, but with the launch of the VHS-2 rifle, it is very likely that the Croatian army will transfer all orders to the On the rifle.
A long-standing regulation of the Croatian army requires 50,000 assault rifles. Even if there have been no export orders, the long-term production of VHS-2 rifles can still be ensured, but the U.S. Department of Defense proposed to order 500 VHS rifles, future order quantities are likely to increase.
On May 12, 2009, Branko Vukelic, then Croatian Defense Minister, confirmed that the VHS assault rifle had successfully completed all destructive tests.
On May 15, the Croatian Ministry of Defense officially ordered the first batch of 1,000 VHS assault rifles and their derivatives from HS Produkt at an average price of 10,700 Croatian Kunas apiece. According to the 2011 interim budget, 3,000 rifles are expected to be purchased.
VHS, like South Africa’s CR-21, France’s FAMAS and other rifles, uses a bullpup design. This allows VHS to have the length of a carbine and the muzzle kinetic energy of a rifle. The bullpup design also incorporates the silhouette of a soldier. Minimize and increase the flexibility of soldiers in street fighting.
The speed switch is set inside the trigger guard. When the speed switch lever is set to the left, it is fully automatic mode, when it is set to the right, it is semi-automatic mode, and when it is set to the center, it is safety mode. The magazine catch/release button is located on its rear. The charging handle of the VHS is hidden under the handle and is designed to rotate left and right to pull the bolt from the left or right direction. There are connected ejection baffles on the periphery of the ejection port, which are respectively located in the upper, lower and rear directions to prevent the ejection direction from being unstable.
The cheek rest is a through-type design from the bottom of the butt to the back of the handle. The direct gas operating system of VHS uses another main air hole next to the main air hole to obtain part of the high-pressure gas generated by shooting, and push the space behind the bolt.
The bolt itself will produce an inflatable buffering effect, using high-pressure gas to slow down the recoil speed of the bolt until the bolt finally stops due to the gas buffering effect, preventing the bolt and the tail of the receiver from Or the mechanical buffer device collides, which greatly reduces the recoil and makes it easier to control the firearm. You can even control the gun with one hand and two points for shooting.
Like various popular machine guns, rifles and submachine guns, the VHS rifle can also use pre-drilled holes for installing tactical rails on the left and right sides and bottom of the handguard and the left and right sides and top of the handle. holes, allowing the user to install MIL-STD-1913 tactical rail pieces with two mounting screws.
The actual combat experience gained by the Croatian army in the Croatian War of Independence also affected the plan for the development of this rifle: the VHS assault rifle may be the only standard integral type that is suitable for both grenade launchers and rifle grenades. Assault rifle with sights.
The disadvantage of the VHS rifle is ergonomics: the speed selector has three positions, namely safe, semi-automatic and fully automatic shooting, but there is no three-round click option. The production model rifle's speed switch is located inside the trigger guard.
Changing launch modes is difficult with VHS because the crank must rotate a large distance before one of the launch modes is selected. It is also usable by the right hand only. The receiver can only eject the cartridge case from the right side, and it drops sharply after being thrown toward the rear. There are even cases where an empty cartridge case has a chance of hitting the shooter's arm depending on the positioning of the shooter's elbow.
Whether it is a design similar to the FAMAS or a design similar to the TAR-21, the VHS rifle only has an ejection port facing the right and no ejection port facing the left. This makes people who are accustomed to using their left hands be confused. Forced to use his right hand instead.
In April 2013, at the Adriatic Defense and Aviation Show in Split, Croatia, the improved VHS-2 of VHS was displayed to the public for the first time by HS Produkt. HS Produkt VHS-2 means the 2nd generation VHS assault rifle.
The weapon is an improved version of the VHS rifle, retaining its bullpup design, caliber and barrel length, and internal mechanism, but introducing new designs, including a more traditional fire mode selector , a redesigned carrying handle, a four-position fixed-position telescopic stock with adjustable length, and a smart ejection system that can be configured for left or right ejection in less than a minute, making the ergonomics better than the original gun. outstanding.
Countries of use: France: Hundreds of rifles purchased for testing purposes Iraq? Iraqi Kurdistan Syria United States: Large quantities of rifles purchased for testing purposes.