AKs in that part of the world as as common as chopsticks in China.
Some tribal forces still carry Lee-Metfords (c.1899)! Holy shyte, over!
AKs of all variations (Chi-Com, Russian, East German, Polish, Romanian, Hungarian etc and in calibres 7.62 and 5.45.) will be in use for the next 100 yrs.
Canada making AK ammo? Plenty of ammo to go around already. I can see us supplying it though, if we had to. It would be cheaper to buy it off the shelf from eastern Europe, China or Russia, in bulk, then tool up for it. They've been making for over 60 years in the Com Bloc world. The ammo is good stuff, and I've seen tins of it made in the 1960's, cracked open the spam tin, and ready to go. In theatre, we used Russian and Chinese ammo. The Chi-Com stuff was 1961! At our FOB, I maintaned our 'fleet' of captured AKs, and there never was a stoppage, although the Romanian one we had only fired on automatic! That one was a rusted battlefield pickup, and it only took me a few hours to clean it up.
Some Eastern Euro standards of the Cold war period, perhaps were not say as Q1 as East Germany for example, with the over'anal stereotypical german engineering (these former DDR rifles were Q1!!, Of the many, and I mean many AKs I seen in service with the Iraqi Army, and the ones taken from the AIF were overall good to go. A little shiny perhaps, but worked how they were supposed to.
Seems more practical to train up on the easy AK 'peasant proof system' then the M16 FOW. Why the ANA cannot be sponsored by a logistical front which caters the AK FOW is beyond me, but in reality the small qty of C7 rifles, will be like a bucket of sand of a beach, if that. A small gesture, not a big swing to COLT like some think.
Sooner or later thru attrition, parts and logistics will be an issue. Their EME system is piss weak, their supply system is even worse, so there will be alot of canabilisation almost instantly. The serviceable fleet will shrink from the get-go.
In the short term, repairs etc can be carried out by Coalition Forces perhaps, but what about isolation, and sooner or later, they will be on their own. If any spares are left behind, I am sure corruption etc will dwindle them down fast. Profiteering and black markets make money.
I can't see any CF EME elements doing an FRT to replace lost parts in 'Indian Country'.
I am not knocking our weapons system, but face it, with substandard troops (I am not knocking their fighting spirit) with an AK, you can't loose a firing pin retaining pin, the firing pin, extractor and the little bits, or bend a gas tube. The 'Armalites' are not 'soldier proof' compared to the AK, and definatly not peasant mentality proofed either!
I once dealt with some PNG soldiers, who got a cleaning patch stuck in the bbl. They as a group, had tried to burn it out by putting the bbl over a fire. Peasant mentality with a Colt M16A2. You should have seen it, gathered around like some type of a sacrifical ceremony, roasting a rifle, not a beast from the J! Crazy times! At least they took the handguards off
This little gesture with the C7's is nothing but a joke, comparing it to plugging a dam with double-bubble.
Cheers,
Wes