The US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) offered grants to the US companies which will be able to "produce fully functioning facsimiles of foreign-made weapons," namely, the Russian Pulemyot Kalashnikova Modernizirovany (PKM) machine gun and the NSV heavy machine gun, while the manufactured weapons should be "equal to or better than" the prototypes, National Interest reported.
"Such ideas, if they really exist, once again prove the advantages of Russian weapons … However, the idea itself raises questions. If someone wants to do this work legally, in compliance with all the rules, they should discuss it with Rosoboronexport. Otherwise, it is an illegal copying of Russian products. In other words, it is a theft," the Rostec Russian state corporation’s press service said.
Russia's Kalashnikov Concern defense manufacturer noted that the desire of the U.S. to produce copies of the Kalashnikov machine guns proves the reliability of the Russian-made weapons, but there is no information about any concrete plans.
"We are not aware of such plans. But we are not surprised, as this once again underlines the reliability and quality of our weapons," the company's statement read.
