Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Can An Enemy Combatant With An AK-47 Persevere In A Fire Fight Against U.S. Soldiers?

© Sputnik/ Vitaliy Ankov

Sputnik: 'Anyone With AK-47' Can Overmatch US Soldier in Fire Fight

Few countries on the planet could hope to dominate the US in tank, air or naval warfare but US soldiers would be easily outgunned in a fire fight, military analyst Jim Schatz wrote in his article for National Defense.

"Yet every bad actor with an AK-47 takes on US and NATO ground forces in a small arms fight. We are no longer suitably armed to prevent it," he wrote. "The current US Army small arms development and acquisition system is dysfunctional and virtually unworkable, even for those within the system."

The problem became visible after the Battle of Wanat in 2008 at Combat Outpost Kahler in Afghanistan. Nine soldiers of the 173rd Brigade Combat Team were killed and 27 others were injured. Their weapons, including M249 machine guns, Mk 19 grenade launchers and M4 carbines, stopped firing due to overheating.

WNU Editor: I have fired a lot of guns in my life .... but if I was to be in a firelight the rifle that I would prefer is the AK-74 (the more advanced version of the AK-47). And while I do like the AR platform, I am just more comfortable with the AK platform.

11 comments:

Jay Farquharson said...

WNU Editor,

I prefer the FNL1C2,

Single shots at 1500m,

Semi auto at 800m,

Aimed shot's, not spray and pray.

fazman said...

^^also one hit 1 kill good choice.:)

Jay Farquharson said...

Yup, but that's me.

My current favorite rifle is my Sako TRG, just for shooting.

But running a revolution or a conscript army, AKM' s all round.

TWN said...

The skill of the Infantryman, far out weighs the weapon, what they are facing are men that have developed skills they have also learned how to fight the American Infantryman,this happen when you forget your Von Clausewitz, never fight a long war, the enemy will figure out how to beat you.

Si-vis-pasen- said...

Turn a m14 to mk14 may be the best way to fight the Taliban fighters in an small gun's combat environment. The mk14 well out perform ak47 and 74 ..:-)

RRH said...

M14. .30 cal is the way to go. Got a Norinco copy and love it to pieces.

Saw more than one oldtimer carrying them around in the sandbox. A lot of guys just got tired of the 5.56m inability to stop hopped up nutcases in their tracks, especially "out there".

Never shot one, but I wish Canada still used the FN.

RRH said...


SKS or CZ 58 for "the peoples' army".

RRH said...

With you there TWN,

Trained soldiers with bolt action Mausers will take out ad hoc resistance or whatever armed with AKs any day of the week.

TWN said...

I was trained on the FN C1 and C2 both great rifles, I found the C7 more accurate, but given a choice I would go with the M14 which I owned and shot competitively with, but if I was going up north I would prefer an AK works better in the cold. I shot in a competition at -22 Celsius I won using a No4 Lee Enfield against FN C1, C7 and M14's only because I had no stoppages, food for thought.

fazman said...

At some point volume of fire will dictate the outcome.

Naz said...

Hence why the Canadian Rangers were until recently still equipped with No4s.

Thank you for your story.